Free at last? (6/4/2023)

The first few days of retirement are completed. We both retired on Wednesday; I attended my wife’s retirement lunch on Tuesday and she came to mine on Wednesday. We were both introduced to colleagues and supervisors (at the last minute of our employment). The only thing we often could say was “I heard so much about you.” In one instance at my wife’s luncheon one of her colleagues whispered in my ear: “and it is all true.” This was when I said that to her boss.

I can only tell you that it is true what people tell you, retirement is not for the weary. Time to relax, hell no! I already had two inquiries about jobs and if I would be so nice to apply for them or at least send in my resume. These past two days were used to unpack what we brought home from the office and to organize our new lives at home. My wife already had lunch with a very good (retired) friend, who can’t wait for more companionship. I had dinner with her husband, also one of my best friends. Saturday and Sunday were not different, we were constantly on the go. No rest and relaxation here, yet.

Of course, in addition to all this, the past few days have been filled with discussions about our finances. Will we have enough money to maintain our now past lifestyle? On top of that it seems that my health insurance is screwed up. This ranges from Medicare part B to the supplemental part. It is a complete mess. Hopefully everything will work out; however, I better do not get sick in June. Folks at Social Security appear to be so inept, you tell them that you are retiring on June 1 and apply for Medicare at the same time and then did not put anything in the remarks section about wanting Medicare to start on June 1 which I assumed would be self-evident, but no! Moreover, there are no instructions that you had to fill out a starting date. Whomever entered the data did not bother to ask or question things. I learned assume consists of three words: ass, u and me. In other words, I should have known better, and it really made an ass out of me and guess what I think of you (u) right now, social safety net? Oh well, this will come to pass, if I get sick, I might need to start a go-fund-me page to pay for my medical bills this month.

A quick report on last week’s travel. My last trip for the state was to Abingdon. It was an emotional trip for me at times. I greatly enjoy the Southwest, or better the southwestern part of the state. While they are more conservative, I can somehow understand why and accept it. They feel left behind as I think I outline in a previous post. The two days teaching was good, I met with a lot of folks that I have taught over my 14-year career as an instructor for the state. Moreover, I got to eat and drink in places I visited before. It was a fun trip. All I can say is that I will return to the area, but now socially and to explore. This was not my last visit.

Since we are now the proud owners of a camping van (I mentioned this for the first time here), my wife and I are talking about maybe producing a more detailed travel blog, or maybe even starting a YouTube channel for me, where I can talk more about nature, bonsai, stormwater, and our travels. We will see what is going to happen in the future. Stay tuned folks, but as I promised, this blog will go on! By the way, our first trip was to Belle Isle State Park, a place we visited before for some day hikes. It was recommended to me by one of my students in Lynchburg as a great site to go camping, and I dare say it was great. The fun part there was that during our trip we ran into a past student of mine from Staunton (2-hour drive from Belle Isle). He works for VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) and was on visiting the area as well. Crazy when you know so many folks around the state. It somehow amazed my wife how well known I am. Retirement is a double edged sword; I have to behave myself. Well, not really.

Our setup at Belle Isle, we had fun.

My wife and Radar enjoying the outside and waiting for that beer.

On the Creeper Trail in Abingdon

A selfie in my last class in Abingdon