Last February, when I gave my employers notice that I was leaving to fulfill our fulltiming dreams, I felt very conflicted. My two years at Athena Women’s Health has been amazing. Walking away from a job I love, from people I admire, one that I had really put my heart and soul into and where I felt appreciated and valued, was incredibly difficult. All I could see in front of me was opportunity.
But I did it. My desire to travel and experience life on the road trumped all else. Today, I am officially retired!!
I celebrated with my co-workers last Friday. What started off to be a typical gloomy and rainy day in the Pacific Northwest turned into an absolutely gorgeous day. Which is good, because the party we planned was an outdoor RV Tailgate BBQ with Scoopy as the main attraction!
Steven and I retrieved her from storage the day before and spent the night at our “home park”, Blue Sky in Preston. We were up at 5:00am so that we could unhook and drive to my office by6:00am. I’m sure our neighbors loved that, but we had to get her into the parking lot before others arrived and blocked our way. Everything went according to plan. By the afternoon, the weather cleared and we had a gorgeous afternoon and evening. And a fun party!
Scoopy wonders why all the attention? The Athena crew celebrate Linda’s retirement
After, Steven and I spent the night in the parking lot. I had a glass or two of refreshing adult beverages, and there was no way I was going to drive Scoopy out of there! So, this was our very first official boondocking night. Because we had a new inverter and residential refrigerator, I was on high alert, but everything worked like a charm.
After the party, the sun set on a beautiful day.
My last work week was only four days due to the holiday, and since I had basically turned over all my tasks to others, I really didn’t have much to do. So I’d pop in for a few hours and then leave. It was nice, because I came home and got some work done.
My first stop after spending about an hour at work today, saying goodbye to everyone, was Trader Joe’s. When the clerk asked me how my day was going, I told him it was pretty good so far, because I had just left my job for the last time. He asked if I had plans for my life, and I told him yes, and as I described what my future held, he was amazed. He rang the bell, he gave me a high-five, and then he gave me flowers.
So far, so good!
UP NEXT: A very busy June.
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Happy retirement, Linda!!!
I remember the feeling so well …. it is like the last day of school, but multiplied by ten!!
Get out there quickly and travel. What I mean is, we only had a couple of years between the "empty nest" and the arrival of our first Grandchild.
That changed everything, and Grammy could not bare to be away from the little ones, so we sold the motor home, and will take shorter trips.
Wishing you and Steven many happy years on the road!!
Take care … TnT
congrats on reaching this huge milestone Linda..if our life had worked out the way we wanted today 'could have been my last day too'..not to be, though..not yet..but one day it will be our turn to have the same 'blog title'..
Just stumbled across your blog, congrats to you both on your escape from the working world. We just celebrated our one year anniversary FT, good luck with the house sale, hopefully CA market is better than the VT was.
TnT – I sent Sue B. a message a few weeks ago asking about you guys! I said it's like they've fallen off the earth! And here you are, grandparents! Congrats on that, and even though you're not traveling as much, you will enjoy it when you can. So good to hear from you!
We'll all celebrate with you when that day comes. I know you've had your eye on the prize for as long as we have, and I know you'll get there!
Thank you so much! I'm guessing your first year of FTing flew by! We're just so excited to get started. We're in the Seattle area and fortunately, there is a shortage of homes on the market, so most that are well-priced last less than a week or two on the market. So, fingers crossed ours is one of those!
Happy trails! You will love full timing.
Congratulations on your retirement. We are starting our 12th year full timing. Hold on – you are going to have the time of your life!!
Kathi Boozer (arlonboozer.com)
Congrats * it's been 3 1/2 years since my last day and there's been no looking back. Enjoy and have fun. Becki
Congratulations!!! We're just coming up on our first year anniversary of full-timing — it has been a fantastic journey, even with some bumps in the road. Happy and safe travels; we look forward to reading about your adventures. (We heard about your blog through Fred & Jo W. a couple of weeks ago.)