3 Months 8 Days

So my retirement countdown app tells me I have 3 months and 8 days left as an employee.  The last 14 days of that time will be paid vacation so it is really 2 months and 26 days.  Other than a 3 week period of unemployment something like 35 years ago, I have been continuously employed for 38 years.  And the refrain that runs through my mind as I think about retirement is from the Kaiser Chiefs’ song “Retirement” – “I want to retire, No longer required”.  It’s probably that “no longer required” part that scares me.  No rhythm and routine to be adhered to, because that is part of “being required”.  And “being required”, while it implies a burden of doing what someone else directs, also implies being needed, being relevant.  I certainly want to continue to be relevant! 

                                          Me and My Husband with our Grand-daughter at Sea World

So I embark on the journey from being relevant because of what my skillset is worth to an employer to becoming relevant because of what I do with my “free” time.  Where am I as I start the journey?  Well, I am 62 years old and have been married to my best friend for a few months shy of 43 years.  He and I are entering retirement at the same time.  I am mother to one child, a daughter, and have two adorable grandchildren, a boy and a girl.  I am a California native, now living in Tennessee, but with a retirement home waiting in the mountains of western North Carolina.  I am a Certified Public Accountant with a Master of Science in Taxation, who has mainly worked in corporate tax departments.  I am retiring from a role in which I manage a team of ten in filing corporate tax returns, defending the returns on audit, and recording the financial impact of taxes in the corporate books.  I have been doing handcrafts for most of my life and look forward to all the projects I want to complete with more free time.  My husband and I love to hike and cook and occasionally travel.  When we travel we come up with our own itinerary and enjoy the immersive experience of taking public transportation and walking a city.  We enjoy small get-togethers with friends and family but are not super social.  Being best friends for all these years we can be quite content just being together.  And in 2 months and 26 days I will start becoming…?  He will start becoming…?