Headin' Down the Road to Retirement!!

"You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore"~Christopher Columbus"


We had a surprise here last night....a blast of cold air and snow!! It all happened it just a few minutes!  The temperature went from 41 to 33 in about 30 minutes and big black clouds passed overhead....then thunder then BOOM....snow!!  We rarely get snow around here, and haven't really had much of a winter thus far so this was really a surprise!  The wind came with the storm and again around 3:00 am we had a little more snow!! Nothing like up North, but still SNOW!! The daffodils and crocus' have been blooming around here due to the confusing temperature changes, 40 one day, 70 the next!!

Crocus' this morning...peeking from under the snow!

Just as it hit...it was quite a blast!

It Covered things very quickly!

See it's already melted quite a bit this morning....and blown away too!! 40 MPH winds tend to clear it up!

I mentioned in my last post that I had some news! As most of you know, I am a Govt. employee and have been for over 32 years! Work has not been something I have happy with for a long time, due mostly to people with lack of initiative, and people not caring like they used to.  Well, due to the rules of retirement from there, I was not old enough and there was no early out authority approved for the last year or so.....well yep, you guessed it!! NASA offered a VERA..(Voluntary Early Retirement Authority) the end of November!!!! Hubby and I came home that evening, and crunched the numbers, and my last day as a Government employee is April 3!!!! I will officially be RETIRED!!!  Hubby has 46 years under is belt and is still going to work for a while longer as he loves his job and the people he works with and they are in the middle of a big project....but he can telecommute most of the time, so trips to Sanibel can happen!!! :)  In fact, he is communicating with someone on Sanibel about possibly getting a rental year round on the island!! Hopefully we can work that out, how awesome would that be??  

Meanwhile I am slowly closing out things at work, "my job" has already been posted and people have applied, and the interview process will start in the next couple of weeks.  They can do it all the way down to hiring someone, but have to do that AFTER I'm gone!!  One of my co-workers bought this sign for me to update with how many Days I have left....as of today it is actually 51 I think!! The retirement paperwork and process is definitely convoluted and frustrating but I am plodding through it trying to make sure it all works out!

So I have been doing a lot of thinking about a lot of things for the last few months!! I've always envied my Dad because he Retired from the Air Force at the age of 46 with 28 years of service, and has not officially 'been employed' since.  Don't be mistaken, he works....all the time!! That's just who he is!  And that is who I am also! I am 52 years old and have over 32 years of service...so it's really very similar!!

 I've looked into Culinary School, went on tours and open houses as there is a great one nearby, but the cost is ridiculous to pay for a hobby, plus I would have to be full time for the next 15 months!! NOT!! So I'm thinking of just enrolling in a nearby community college and taking a few classes....we'll see, that's just one idea!! 

A lot of thoughts I have had are due to a post that Kim of http://snugharborbay.blogspot.com/ posted on New Years Eve here. She and I have so very much in common in our lives and once again she has made me think.....I have thought and thought about what my word would be....and I think I have finally decided it will be LIVE. Live for today, Live like everyday is your last day, appreciate life, family and everything and everyone around you!! If you don't like where you are, or what you are doing, then change it!! My retirement is going to be doing things I WANT to do! I have been too long, just getting by with things the way they are, and I am not going to do that anymore....starting 51 days from today!  I don't have big monumental plans, but I am going to enjoy whatever it is I am doing, no matter how big or small!! 

It's very cool that my Daughter Jess, is sort of on a 'parallel' with me, she is counting down her days left until classwork is done in Vet School, and we will finish around the same time! She will then start Internships for her 4th year, and her life will begin again then!! She has gone with me to Culinary School and continues to remind me that I need to do what I want to do, and I'm listening Jess!! I have promised her I will do just that!!  My mind is just spinning with ideas, and I just can't wait to get started!!  I guess I have to change the sentence at the top of my blog to "ON the road of Retirement!"

51 days and counting!

::Hugs::

Cheri