Going Places Where Most People Don't

I had my official retirement party tonight at Barley’s Taproom. What a hoot. Because of all the talk at my work about pirates to watch out for while sailing, we decided to have a pirate themed party. At least pirate or island attire. And despite the conservative people I work with, it was a great turnout in that attire. I owe a big Thank you to all those who showed up and participated in theme dress, and to everyone else who showed up just to say hi.
Thank you Jordan and Cody for coming over from middle TN. Jordan and Anna made an awesome Jolly Roger cake. Hopefully I’ll have pictures to follow of the cake and some of the costumes.
I worked my last midnight shift a couple of days ago. Anna came to work with me and made it a night to remember forever;)
I do still have one more week of work scheduled but chances of me showing up are not that good. I do still have sick leave left you know.

It’s been a great career, but I’m way to excited about starting the next chapter of my life to miss it for too long. And now if someone would just by our house, the next chapter would start.

Some days you ride it up, and other days you ride it down. You know like straight down. I mentioned before that I was going to have to stick around for another 4 months or so. In fact I think I mentioned some good because of it. Well the one reason you ride a roller coaster is of course for the thrill of those severe drop offs, but the fun I’ve been having on this emotional ride has not been thrilling. I found out last week that I would need to stay another 4 months to retain health benefits into retirement, but I found out today that’s not the case. I can retire now and still retain health benefits. So it’s back on for the end of October. YAHOO!!!!!!!

Isn’t it funny how things in life happen for a reason. I like to think it’s because God has a better view of the BIG Picture than I do.

While I was signing the papers to finalize my retirement, I came across some small print that said I needed to be enrolled continuously in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program to continue those benefits after retirement. WHATTT!!!!! I can’t retire yet? but I’ve been looking forward to this day for months. How can you do this to me? What have I done to deserve this? AARRRRRGGGGGG! This is what I call BAD news. In fact I would call this VERY BAD news.

Ahh but wait, our house hasn’t sold yet. Preparations for retirement and departure haven’t been done that need to be done. Little things here and there. Things that weren’t going to get done to make the deadline. Hold on, does this mean I was just given a 4 1/2 month extension? It does. This is Good news. sort of.

Let me explain. I mean yes it sucks rotten eggs I’m not leaving town when I planned, but let’s look at the silver lining. Our house hasn’t sold yet, which means we still have a place to live for a while longer. We still have a ton of stuff to sell and get done around here in preparation for departure. The whole health benefits thing will continue after retirement (I found this out before final papers were submitted)

News is what you make it. Is it bad? Is it good? Does it matter? It’s news. Be sure to give thanks in all things, because even the worst news can be good news.