While not the most breathtaking sunrise I've ever seen or photographed, it's certainly one of the most special, because it marked the first day of my husband's retirement! :-) After a very full, very long, very hot and dusty day at work yesterday (at the end of which, during his final delivery, he was nearly stung on the head by a nest full of angry hornets!), BW retired from UPS. He worked there for, as he likes to put it, "25 Christmases!" :-) Even his countdown to this day was marked not by how many years he had left, but how many Christmases. And when he decided that he didn't have another UPS Christmas season left in him, he decided to retire early. Or as he put it at his retirement breakfast yesterday, "I don't regret a single Christmas I worked for UPS. But if I worked one more I would!" :-)
Congratulations, BW! You worked long and hard for this and we both made a lot of sacrifices along the way - so laissez les bon temps rouler, baby!
And happy Friday, happy August, and happy SkyWatching to all of you!
Yes, let the adventure begin! Every day is Saturday!
ReplyDeleteThat's what our recently retired friend Jackie said when we told her about BW's plans to retire early - "Ah, retirement - when every night is Friday night and every day is Saturday!" :-)
DeleteCongratulations! How very exciting. Christmas will be such a sweet pleasure this year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cadry! Yes it will, and I think that's when it will truly feel real! BW has been a UPS driver every Christmas season of our married life save one, and that one he spent in TX while the critters and I were in WY. He didn't get home till Christmas Eve. It will be so different this year, we may actually enjoy it! :-)
DeleteHappy Belated Birthday to you! I've only had time to peek at your recent post on my Dashboard and saw that you celebrated it last week. Hope you had fun, and will try to make it by your blog soon! (I feel terribly inadequate, but find it so challenging to maintain my own blog and be good about visiting and commenting on all the wonderful blogs I follow!)
Retirement -- the best years of a life! -- barbara
ReplyDeleteI believe it! Childhood was good, but there were too many grownups making us go to bed early and stuff. :-)
DeleteLet the good times roll indeed. I wish you and your beloved a splendid and adventure-filled retirement. Meanwhile, Happy Weekend and Happy Skywatching!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Jenny! I think it's going to be a lot of fun! (Not that we waited till retirement to have fun adventures, but now they won't be confined to weekends and vacations!) :-)
DeleteHappy retirement to BW. Though mind you, I can't quite understand how I ever found time to go to work. My days are full. As I suspect his will be.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that sky full of beauty and promise.
Have a great weekend.
BW says thanks, Ellie Sue! And I know exactly what you mean - I experienced the same thing when I stopped working. We can't understand how anyone can be bored, there is always so much to see, do, learn, read… You have a great weekend too!
DeleteRemember as I told you earlier about retirement. Now every night is Friday night and every day is Saturday. Congrats and have fun!
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember! I even quoted you in my response to The Furry Gnome, first comment on this post! :-) It's a great line, I think I will have to do it up in a cross-stitch sampler. LOL Thanks, and we will! :-)
DeleteGorgeous skies!
ReplyDeletehttp://amitaag.blogspot.in/2014/07/skywatch-fluffy.html
They were pretty skies (and this morning we had a full rainbow! Which will probably make an appearance next Friday, if my photos turned out!) :-)
DeleteLovely skies! And I hope your husband has a wonderful and fulfilling retirement!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We're confident he will! :-)
DeleteYES!!!! As you know, I'm extremely excited for both of you that you can now enjoy life without pesky work getting in the way. He's got to feel like he just lost 100 lbs, shedding that stress of a job. Mike can relate to the frustration of Christmas. Things get quite crazy for us at work during that time, too, and we're always glad when it's over. It'll be so nice to be able to actually relax and enjoy the holidays!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Molly! It's so sweet (and infectious!) that you're so excited for us! We're excited for us too. :-) I'm not sure the reality has totally kicked in yet for BW, especially since he's been on disability leave for his shoulder since mid-May. Maybe it will seem real come Monday morning - maybe it won't seem truly real till Christmas time! :-) But all your observations are true.
DeleteI think most people don't realize how many others work especially hectic jobs over the holidays. It'll be so nice when you guys can shed your - what is it by now, about 5000 TONS of stress? from your jobs someday too! You guys are going to also be the type who make the most of your retirement too, enjoying each other's company and always finding interesting things to do! It'll be great! :-)
Congrats! Let the enjoyment begin. I can honestly say I've enjoyed life more than ever ever ever since retiring (that and going vegan) so...have a goooooood time! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you! And that's wonderful to hear (three "evers" is a strong endorsement! lol) We agree about life being more enjoyable since becoming vegan (14 years ago this month!), so are looking forward to it being even better being retired vegans! :-) Guess it just can't get much better than that!
DeleteHappy Retirement. Weekends will never be the same - well, they will in a sense, another day of not working!
ReplyDeleteI work nights as a newspaper carrier and I also measure my years in how many winters I've been at it. This past one - the worst ever - was my 15th. Then again, the storm of '99 was pretty bad, too, and that was my first winter!
Thanks! I think Sunday nights will never be the same - what a great feeling that will be! BW always dreaded Sunday nights. Now we can stay up late and not even care! :-)
DeleteI'll bet you measure your newspaper delivering years by the winters! You probably have to get up at oh-dark-thirty, don't you? At least you should mostly have the roads to yourself, which would be good - as long as the plows are out! Hope you don't have many winters left doing that. It's got to be a wearisome challenge in winter, especially with all the snow you get in that neck of the woods!
And may you enjoy the next phase of your life.
ReplyDeleteThank you, that's our plan! :-)
DeleteYou two have been looking forward to this day for a long time. Now you can begin the next phase of your lives together, and may it bring you mucho happiness.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Spudmeister! Retirement has indeed been a long time coming, and yet - from this vantage point, the years went by so fast! So far, it's been a pretty seamless transition from BW's 2.5 months off to recover from his shoulder surgery and retirement, given that he only worked two days in between! Frankly, those two days were more surreal than his retirement has felt! Not even today, his first Monday as a retiree, feels out of the ordinary. Maybe it won't really hit us till Christmas time!
DeleteHe was so funny - his last day, Thursday, was pretty brutal. Heavy load, deliveries to the far ends of his route, didn't get done till nearly 8:30 that night. I heard him tell someone, "I went to bed that night tired, and woke up REtired!" :-)
Why didn't I think of that neat phrase? ;-)
ReplyDeleteHe comes up with a lot of good BW Originals. :-)
Delete