Monday, March 28, 2022

Waiting, waiting, waiting


March 28, 2022

If parting is sweet sorrow, waiting is sweet torture. My "official" retirement date is now May 22, 2022. That's the day of my retirement "party," and you know I won't go back to my old work office after that. <deep breath>

The little counter on my phone tells me there are eight weeks, forty more weekdays. I don't work on Mondays, so that is thirty-two workdays. I swear it feels like forever. <deep breath>

I deliberately stepped back from writing so I could concentrate on the myriad details there are to beginning retirement, and there are many. Health insurance, pension plans, investment plans, and being March, filing taxes. Top all that off with training my "replacement" and I've been rather busy. I never suspected training someone would be so exhausting, and this young woman is a smart one. I can't imagine what it would be like if she weren't. 

My plan was to hold off writing until June, but that went out the window this morning. It may be the end of March, but it's cold outside. The things I wanted to do to start to prep for my veggie garden won't happen in the midst of snow squalls. Call me a wimp if you like. 

So what did I do? I banged out chapter eight of the work-in-progress and it felt SO GOOD!!!! I really need to get the cover worked out but I'm on sabbatical. Right? 

Maybe not. Things happen in their own sweet time. Who am I to fight it?


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 KC Kendricks


Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys


Sunday, March 6, 2022

Closer every day

 


March 6, 2022

Did you know that every day and everyday mean different things? Every day, with a space, is each day. Everyday is something we use every day. That is to say, a spoon is an everyday item. Everyday is an adjective - it describes an object. Every day is an adverbial phrase. And so goes today's lesson. 

I'm rapidly closing in on my retirement date of May 31, 2022. I've filled out forms, made phone calls, crunched numbers, and worried about training my "replacement." (She starts Tuesday.) As I proofed an article written by the current CEO, I came across her misuse of everyday - AGAIN. College and business school educated and her misuse of words is astounding. I won't miss that part of the job at all. 

And it's not that my grammar is perfect because it's not. It's simply that with all her higher education, she's not on my level. Is our education system at the core of the dumbing down of the United States? Could be.

With only a maximum of forty-two working days left in my career, I'm getting antsy. To make matters worse so is the spousal unit. I'm excited to be able to spend time writing, gardening, walking with Deuce, and maybe even spending time with the spouse. He's worried - like scared worried - that the new girl won't work out and they'll convince me to stay on. NOT HAPPENING. 

The urge to start writing again is niggling at me. I want to finish the WIP and jump straight to something else, but I know I need to wait. The next few weeks will be full of upheaval and I need to ride it out. Any writing I do would likely suffer. I'm not one-hundred perfect sure that would be the case but close enough that I'll force myself to concentrate on other projects. 

Forty-two days remain in my working career. It's a scary-wonderful thing. In effect, I'm starting over. My time will be my own. I began working on July 17, 1973. That's a long time to be employed. Will being retired match my vision of being retired? 

Being able to figure that out is getting closer every day. 


_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks


Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys