My First Day of Retirement – Take 3

I used to be a nurse, but I no longer have a valid license in any state. I’ve retired from nursing.

I used to work in a school as a computer teacher/lab administrator, but I left that field two years ago when I moved. I’ve retired from technical jobs.

I used to work as a secretary which is considered to be a disgusting term so I was called an administrative assistant, but I quit. I’ve retired from my clerical position.

I actually quit last week, but I already had a vacation scheduled for Tuesday through Friday so it didn’t feel like I was not going to work because I didn’t have a job to go to, but that I was simply on vacation. Weekends don’t count for not going to work because you aren’t supposed to work on weekends – even though for many years every other weekend was de rigueur.

So yesterday was my first day of retirement – again. Leaving nursing was difficult because I thought that the work was difficult but necessary to the welfare of my fellow humans. I always wanted to be a nurse, but the local hospital was so awful to work in that leaving wasn’t as difficult as it might have been. There was a class action suit being waged in the department in which I worked that made it hellish for everyone working there. I don’t know who actually “won” the case as the litigants were given a monetary payoff but they lost their jobs. All that happened after I left. I hope everyone is now content, but the whole thing was unsavory to me.

Leaving my teaching post was difficult. I thought it was a worthwhile way to spend my life, too. Teaching the next generation is necessary to the culture as well as satisfying in its own right. Watching small people master a task and make the knowledge their own is a great way to spend your days. But we moved and I surrendered another career on the altar of marital bliss.

Then I was a secretary. It’s not a glamorous job. It needs to be done. Calling it something else is supposed to make the secretary feel better about her lot in life. It doesn’t. Doing menial tasks for menial pay is not the way I want to spend the hours of my only life. As in every job, there were issues to deal with – some even important. However, selling my soul to the company wasn’t really a good deal for me. So I retired, again.

My first day – off to water aerobics just like every Monday because that’s what I did just before work anyway and I need to keep fit no matter what. The beauty was that I didn’t have to rush to get to work on time. I didn’t have to bring half my house with me so that I could primp and prepare myself to present myself in a working situation. I exercised, showered, got dressed and – went shopping! I had two stops to make. One was to look at baby shower presents for our niece and the other was to look at possible gifts for an upcoming anniversary. I did that.

Then on home and a leisurely stretch of afternoon. I had another two loads of laundry. I did that. I watched some TiVo’ed shows. I read. I surfed the net. I debated taking a nap. I stayed up and read some more. I made dinner. I wrote my piece for the zine I work on. I played some computer games.

That was it. I don’t know how long it will take me before I am bored with this decision. No decision is permanent because I can always decide differently tomorrow. I can look for another job. I can look for another career. I can go to school and learn something new. I can volunteer in many places. I can decide that my time is not being spent in the way I choose and choose differently. But that is for tomorrow.

Today, I’m going out to lunch.