The last day was November 13, 2024. The thought of it filled me with excitement, relief, happiness, and maybe just a hint of anxiety. I have contemplated this date for decades but only gave it serious thought during the last five years or so. I have been preparing for this moment over a good portion of my adult life. My ideas about how it would look and the impact it would have on me have changed over the years. I’m extremely grateful to be reaching such a pivotal point in my life, and I am even more thankful that I got to celebrate the occasion with my spouse/best friend. November 13, 2024, was the day my professional career ended, and retirement began.

My wife retired earlier in 2024, and although I cut back to halftime hours for my final year, I still went to work several days a week, every week. The thought of never again having to drag out of bed at dawn, down a cup of coffee, grab a bite to eat, shower, shave, get dressed, and head out the door for work is just lovely, if not a bit scary. No work means no paycheck. Yes, like many Americans we will have sources of retirement income, including social security. No, it’s not the same as a regular earned paycheck, which is more a difference in the mind than the wallet. For many people, retirement is a huge shift in thinking and practice; in short, we transition from spending and saving what we are earning to spending what we saved, either on our own or through our employers and/or the government. It takes some getting used to for most of us, I suspect.

The joys of being retired are slowly revealing themselves with each passing week. The stress that comes from adhering to a daily schedule and meeting deadlines pretty much disappeared on day one. The luxury of rarely setting an alarm for waking in the morning is heaven, although I still tend to wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m., although there have been a few mornings I have slept past 8:00, especially in a hotel with blackout curtains. Retirement offers so many scheduling options, such as traveling and vacationing on whatever days of the week that works best for our planned activities, assuming we have set plans. Sometimes we just get a whim and go off on an adventure, which is so liberating and fun. We can book flights now based on the optimum prices, availability, airline, time of year, and choice of destination, rather than how we can fit air travel into a work week.

Money can buy so many things, but the most precious commodity we cannot purchase for any amount of cash is more time. However, retirement puts more of the time we have back in our hands to do with as we please. I love to read, and during the years I was working, I typically would get up early enough to spend at least 30 minutes to an hour reading with my first cup of coffee. Reading at night has never been a good option for me because I tend to lose attention and retention after dinner. Now, I can read for hours on end at almost any time of the day that works for me, which is heavenly. I am also devoting more time to reading online subscriptions to newspapers like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. One slight downside of not driving back and forth to work each day is less time spent listening to audiobooks, so I will need to carve out time each week for that relaxing and engaging activity too.

I have been an amateur musician for over fifty years, and another huge benefit to retirement is the amount of time devoted to learning new music, improving my skills, and performing more often. I am even spending an hour each week working with a friend and gifted guitar player who is expanding my knowledge and abilities on that instrument. I also have more opportunities now to sit down for blocks of time to work on the keyboard, learning new songs and getting better at playing in general. I am hoping that retirement will free up more time for songwriting too. Being able to sleep in also means I can stay out later to participate in open mic and jam sessions around town or take in live music shows in the area. My wife and I love going out in the evenings to live music shows.

Another benefit that is more related to our ages than retirement specifically is our eligibility for Medicare, the federal government’s medical insurance program for people age 65 and over. We will save a bundle on premiums and on most medical services and procedures in the coming years, which will free up more money for travel and the many other interests we have. I am baffled by people who tell me that retirement did not meet up to their expectations. Some of them even went back to work. I suppose there are retirees out there who fill up their days watching hours and hours of television. Yes, we do watch television, but mostly we watch sports programming (Go CHIEFS!!!) and a few series now and again. We also love the idea that we can now catch matinee movies at the cinemas during the week and get better deals on admission and concessions. Speaking of discounts, we have become much more aware of lower prices for seniors at restaurants, grocery stores, and other retailers. Those savings really add up over time.

Admittedly, I have become quite obnoxious about the freedom retirement affords. When I’m shopping for seed at our local Wild Birds Unlimited store around mid-day, I often look around at some of the other shoppers and think, “Damn, I bet you’re here on your lunch break, aren’t you?” Or if I’m driving around town mid-morning and the traffic is heavy, I find myself saying out loud in my car, “Why aren’t all you people at work?” I know, I know. I’m a terribly smug person. Eventually I’ll settle in to this wonderful rhythm of retired life, and in so doing, perhaps I will become a bit more humble and gracious. But for now, let me rub it in just a tiny bit.