Happy New Year to you and yours. As the ball drops in New York City on 2017 and Baby New Year brings in 2018, my wife and I will be watching on television or sleeping through it. We will soon know which.
The Year 2017
2017 was an interesting year. I started the year with the goal of having a novel to beta readers. I missed because I underestimated the effort required to edit one to that point. Though I did send off a short-short story to a competition.
Retirement
I started the year planning ending it retired with 31 December as the last day working a full-time job. I didn’t keep it either. Now the day is 26 January. They hired a replacement ensuring I can leave without regrets.
Everyone who learns I am retiring either asks the same question or makes the same suggestion. The question asked is, “What will I do now?” The suggestion is, “I need to keep busy.” To the question, I reply I have plenty to do. I will continue my current activities and use some of the newly available hours to complete some house tasks, travel, and write. I answer the suggestion with the list of all I plan to do after I retire. Not forgotten is downtime. Relaxing!
The year 2018
I called my site, “Fall of My Life” because I think of the past few years as just that – fall of my life. Having passed 70, it is time to move on to the “Winter of my Life.” Sometime next year, I will revamp the website to reflect the image of one celebrating the white-haired days of his life. (Actually, the white hair has been around for more years than I admit.)
Happy New Year! I wish you the best in the coming year, be safe, and healthy. Thank you for your support this year and hope to see you visit in the next. I most look forward to your comments.
We slept through New Year’s Eve. Our guests left around 10. We tucked the girls into bed, and we were all asleep around 10:30. That’s what happens when your kids are little.
Congratulations on retirement! Of course you’ll keep busy. You’ve been waiting for some extra hours to write for a long time.
I remember past New Year’s with children-vaguely. Usually, we were recovering from the sleepless nights wrapping gifts before and on Christmas Eve. Friends dropping by between Christmas and New Years kept us from catching up.
The thought of staying up and facing the early morning when DJ and Tiffany would get up usually saw us sleeping through as you did.
Retirement, I am looking forward to it but with just a bit of trepidation. I began working when I was 16, 54 years ago. 51 since I signed with the Navy and never without a 40 hour or more work weeks. Now, to fill the hours. I am sure Lori will think of something. 🙂