If I’d worked all the way through to official retirement, today would have been my last day. I’m so glad I walked out those schoolhouse doors two years ago! Life has been so much richer. Yesterday, Sadie and I visited Delta airlines flight ops center along with two other teams as part of a wellness event. There’s absolutely no way I would’ve been able to do this had I still been working full-time.

Retirement is what you make it. The best part is you get to decide what you do each day. Sleep in? Hike Kennesaw Mountain? Have lunch with a friend? Catch a matinee at the cool movie theater with hubs? Accept an extra therapy dog visit request? Check out a new museum or fabric store? As I told a friend recently, no two weeks in retirement have been exactly the same.

It’s taken two years, but we’ve found our retirement groove. Mid-summer, I’ll be “officially” retired meaning my pension payments begin and health insurance rates will once again return to employee/retiree rates. We’ll both breathe a sigh of relief and continue to follow our plan. We’ll make a couple of deferred purchases within the next six months (like a replacement SUV for me and a tackle house project or two). Sure, working those two additional years would have meant a few extra dollars in my pension check, but when looking at the whole picture holistically – it wasn’t worth it to us. Time, freedom to do our thing and peace of mind meant so much more.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Summer’s here!

Hubs and I were drawn into all new voting districts this time. The only thing that remains the same is my polling location at a nearby church. I was actually going to sit out this election cycle in protest, but after reviewing all the candidates and issues on the sample ballot, I decided to make my vote count. I voted against individuals I know I definitely do not want to see on the November ballot and for/against specific issues presented.

I’d rather have someone local represent me than a 3 term politician who’s chasing districts she doesn’t live in just to go back for another term. I realize GA law makes this possible; however, this candidate doesn’t understand what’s important to constituents (local issues) like the other candidates do.

It’ll be interesting to see how many of the voters in my new districts share a similar point of view.

Remember – be in line by 7:00 p.m. so you can cast your vote!