Retirement

Well finally this is my first day of retirement!!!!!!!  I've been working since I was about 11 when I started babysitting and had my first job as a car hop at A&W when I was 16.  Really nothing unusual there but I've been working for over 45 years and I have a feeling it is going to take me a while to get the hang of this retirement thing.

I did get a 5 month break when I gave birth to my daughter 34 years ago but if you have taken care of a newborn you know it is far from relaxing.  I had some time off three times after being laid off from jobs which is way stressful with not much time for fun stuff due to job hunting and lack of money.  I also got 8 months off when I was being treated for breast cancer.  Enough said on that subject.  So basically this is the first time in my adult life I'm not working.

It is also only the second time in my life that I've really had to take much money out of savings.  The first time was when my daughter was in college.  She had a hard time understanding why I would get grumpy every time I made one of those big tuition payments.  It had taken me so long to get that money put away and I just hated to let it go.  So taking money out of savings to live on now is going to be a huge adjustment.

I've been working at a hotel on the graveyard shift for the last 4 years and one thing I'm really looking forward to is sleeping when it is dark.  It won't take me long to get used to that!!!!!!