I have been posting updates on our countdown to retirement in a forum I am active on – and then the thought occurred to me – why don’t I write about that on my own blog? This is the last post in the series on how we are marching towards the finish/start line.
May 12th – This is it! As of this day I am officially retired!
On Friday morning I signed the severance package, sent a couple of last emails while the work email was still active, and that was it. I returned my equipment on Monday, so by Friday there really wasn’t much to do when it came to “the last things to do while employed”. My work email was finally disconnected this morning, so I cheerfully deleted all work related apps from my phone.
Since then I have received my final paycheck, and the severance package. Also, the promised RSUs have been placed in my brokerage account. So all is good, my employer and I don’t owe each other anything!
DH has the plan to let his boss know about him quitting on July 17th (right after his semi-annual bonus is paid), take almost three weeks of PTO right after that, and then come back to complete his transition till mid August. After that he is also going to be free, just in time for the cruise to Alaska. He is very much looking forward to not having a full time job at this point.
So, you ask, how is life? Life is good! I am not very busy these days, taking it easy. Walking 15-16K steps every day, practicing Spanish on Duolingo (as of today, my streak is 1,070 days, going strong!), taking vocal classes, learning music theory, singing with the choir…
Also, I:
- Attended one weekend-based musical festival, three more to go
- Completed pressure washing project. The house looks clean and good
- Went to an open rehearsal of Seattle Symphonic orchestra (Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony and a couple of other pieces) Thursday morning with a couple of my friends. Got free tickets instead of paying $150 per person for the evening performance. Enjoyed a walk around Seattle downtown and a lunch in a nice Japanese restaurant afterwards. Again, the benefits of having free time to do anything that I want!
- Performed in our first choir concert at an art gallery’s opening, and the other one is this Friday, with an extended program and refreshments afterwards.
- Booked tickets to Greece in April 2024 for us and the kids. We’ll take advantage of the school spring break and of the warm weather in Greece. Got the verbal agreement from the kids that, since this one will be a more intense site-seeing trip, no one will complain and will make the most of the trip. I really wanted to fly to Greece in business class (when I was looking a few weeks ago, economy class in Turkish Airlines was 30K miles + $120 per person, yet business class was 45K miles + $270! I was ready to pay more!) but by the time I got everyone in the family corralled and agreed to the trip, business class promotion fare was gone… DH said – it’s for the better, the two of us will fly in business class somewhere else, without the kids
- Talked to my sister recently and discussed the possibility of meeting in person again somewhere (like we did in Turkey in September of last year). The earliest possible time for me is May 2024 since I am pretty booked until then! So, there is a possibility of meeting up in Georgia (the country, not the state in the US) in the second half of May. I am checking the availability of business class promo fare on Turkish Airlines for that trip
Next on the books for me is a two week trip to Germany with my youngest kid. Very much looking forward to that!!