The weirdest thing about my last day at work was that it wasn’t that weird.
I walked down the halls thinking “this is my last day here! I’ll only ever be a visitor here, never a part of this organization!” But it didn’t feel any different.
And of course, people still expected me to work. Do my job, make up reports, file, get the mail, ordinary stuff. And it felt ordinary.
Everyone was congratulating me, but really all I’ve managed to do is to age. Gracefully, of course, but it’s the genes that’ve kept me going for 65 trips around the sun.
Then I was clearing out my personal cache on my computer and I ran across all the recipes I’d downloaded (yea, I downloaded recipes on company time. Gonna fire me?) and I got an actual frisson of excitement. I can plan meals and shop at specialty shops, go down to Granville Island any day, not just on the weekends.
Take Indian and Chinese cooking classes!
Then my daughter texted me that Playland is free for seniors. FREE!!!! And my daughter and granddaughter have season tickets!!!! “Oh, grand-person, want to go to Playland with Nana? Anytime????” It’s magical!
So gradually and imperceptibly I have become used to the idea of being retired. And I like it.