I got a phone call from a former leader at my old job one morning when I was weeding a flowerbed. I was quite surprised since at that point I was no longer employed. She wanted to know if I wanted to come to my company’s annual summer meeting. I was torn. On the one hand I always hated those meetings. On the other, the one thing I regretted about the whole retirement during covid mess was that I didn’t get to say goodbye to friends and colleagues I worked with for 25 years. I asked if, instead of coming for the whole meeting (3-4 days), I could just come one evening for dinner. So that’s what I did.
I arrived at about 3pm, and went down to meet some friends at the pool. I probably should have skipped that part. I never liked discussing business in a bathing suit, and business is all I have in common with some of those people. Later we all went down to dinner- the usual terrible taco buffet. But that’s when I got to see all of my old friends who had been absent at the pool. I hadn’t seen any of these folks since the summer of 2019 before I announced my retirement.
I was really glad I did it- I got to hug a few colleagues I really enjoyed working with, and I will probably never see again. I got to thank some of my mentors, and some younger co-workers thanked me for my help over the years. It was nice. It also made me even more thankful I don’t work there anymore. The company’s policies have been changing rapidly and I didn’t talk to anyone who was happy about it.
There were a ton of questions about how I was enjoying my retirement and what I was doing with my time. I was asked if I was bored about a million times. I’m not. A lot of people asked if I missed working at all. I miss some of my clients, and I miss having problems to solve, but I do not miss having a job. I do not miss the daily 9-5, I do not miss the stress, and I do not miss the corporate nonsense. Some people asked if I was going to try some other kind of paid employment. I explained that while I was working I kind of daydreamed about a part time teaching position at one of the local universities. It seemed like fun when I was exhausted from dealing with my job, but now it seems like something else to clutter up my blissfully loose schedule. I LOVE doing what I want to whenever I feel like doing it.
Obviously one guy thought the things I’ve been doing didn’t sound like enough to keep him busy. He kept asking questions, and finally asked if I had any plans for the future, or something like that. “Yes,” I told him. “I’ve decided to walk the Camino Santiago.” “The what?” he asked. I explained as best I could. Its an ancient pilgrimage across Europe to the church in Spain where St James the apostle is buried. There are paths all across Europe to do this but the most popular one is from a small town in France (St Jean Pied de Port) to Santiago Spain. Its about 500 miles. But really, every pilgrim left from their own home, so you can start anywhere, and you don’t have to hike all of it- or you could start farther away and hike longer if you want to. You don’t get a certificate if you don’t hike at least 70 miles though. I plan to walk a lot farther than that.
He was completely speechless, but apparently was intrigued by the idea, because several other people asked me about it later in the evening. Are you going to do the whole thing? Are you going to carry all of your stuff in a backpack? Maybe and yes. I’m serious about it, too. I want to do things I couldn’t while working. And I want to do them when I’m still physically able to do challenging activities like this. I probably won’t be able to for at least a year- maybe two. I still have a 15 year old in the house who needs to be dropped off at school every day, and a husband who leaves for work too early to do that. Pretty soon, I’ll be able to, though. This is another thing I never imagined myself doing when I retired- I’m going to walk hundreds of miles to Santiago Spain.
Favorite retirement perk of the week? A friend had a fight with her boyfriend and had an extra ticket to see Hamilton in New Orleans. It was a on a Thursday night, and she asked me to go with her since I didn’t have to ask for time off of work. It was wonderful- if you get the chance- go see it!
