Thinking about Retirement, ahhhhhhhhhhh

Although I’m not officially retired (tired but not retired), I am mentally preparing myself for life after work. My actual working career has spanned about 49 years. I began working at age fourteen for a lady down the street from my parent’s home in Smyrna, GA who decorated linens (tablecloths, pillows, etc.) by sewing/embroidering flowers and other decorations into the fabric by hand. My job was to illustrate the flowers, etc. as a template. Thus began my artistic career! I was paid in custom knitted bedroom slippers. Since then I have had many jobs and the one thing that stands out in my mind about all those jobs (except the illustration job when I was fourteen and having my own business when I was 27)… I HATE WORK!!! However eating and having a roof over my head have been a priority. I have tried to make each work experience feel temporary. To date, I’ve had 49 years of temporary jobs, the longest of which lasted eleven years. Now I am down to my last temporary job, I hope. (It actually began as a temporary/part-time graphic design position and became permanent full-time.) I am on year three at this job and have less than three years to go till I am eligible for social security and medicare. It may seem odd to talk about a permanent, full-time job as being temporary but it is mentally liberating for me.

So, now I’m thinking about what I’ll do when I actually stop working and my time belongs only to me.

First, I can turn my alarm clock off permanently. There are so many other reasons to wake-up early that don’t require an alarm…the dog wanting to go out to pee, insomnia, dreaming about asteroids hitting the planet, nightmares that the Republicans win in 2012, TEOTWAWKI, etc.

Second, I will have free time to do whatever I want. I can resume my artistic career started when I was fourteen. Maybe not. I think linen is now embroidered by machine at a factory in China or the Czech Republic.

Third, my husband and I can travel internationally. But where-in-the-world can we go that won’t cost as much as both our social security checks combined? We could visit our children and grandchildren! Virginia, Ohio, and…Texas. That way we won’t have to pay for a hotel room. Should keep us busy for about six weeks a year. Then we can go visit my sisters in Minnesota and, oh yeah…Texas. (Why does almost everyone I know, or that I am related to, live in Texas?) I have a brother that lives in, yep...Texas. So, if Texas becomes a sovereign country, I WILL have to keep my passport current. Texas may be the extent of our international travel if we can’t afford to go to Canada or Belize. Wonder if flights into Dallas, Houston, and Austin will require an entrance and exit fee like in Central America? Do I need to “declare” those gifts I brought for the kids birthdays? I LOVE RAGGING ON TEXAS. It’s bigger and weird-er.

Retirement may not be the “Nirvana” (a place or state characterized by freedom from or oblivion to pain, worry, and the external world) that I think it should be. Maybe I will get another “temporary” job just to fill in those days when I have nothing to do. Hope it comes with vacation time and benefits!!!