Retirement

In March of 2003, I got laid off from my job as a project manager for a company that wrote custom software applications.  With a mortgage, a son in college, and a son in high school, I needed a job, any job, and fast.  Signing on with a temp agency seemed like the best plan – I could go on assignments while I searched for something more permanent. 

Some jobs lasted just a couple of days, others a few weeks.  The one I was at the longest said they wanted to keep me, but sadly, nothing materialized before my time there ended.  There was no time to feel bad about that, however, because another assignment came right away. 

When they said that the previous temp had only lasted a day, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out that I just needed to do some simple data entry.  Now, the system they were using appeared to be about 30 years old – it looked like the old DOS green screens they had when I was in college – but it was easy to get a rhythm going and lose myself in mindless keying. 

The reason I’d been hired was because one of the people on the team was on maternity leave. Once she returned, I expected my assignment to end, but it turned out that there was another team member having a baby so I continued working there, learning a little more every day, absorbing things from conversations that occurred around me.  When that maternity leave ended, they kept finding reasons to keep me on until one day in February 2004, a position opened up and I was hired as a full time employee.

After a year or so I got promoted and after another year I was promoted again and selected to work on a special project with our parent company.  By this time I was leading the department, an amazing group of men and women, that I grew to love and respect.  That probably sounds odd – who feels like that about the people they work with? 

Opportunities were plentiful and I had the pleasure of working for great leaders, some brilliant colleagues, and people who today I am proud to call friends.  Though the work was hard and the job seemed huge and overwhelming at times, I have never enjoyed a job more. And after thirteen years, it’s the longest I’ve ever worked for a company.

Though this has been a great experience (at least 95% of the time!), I’m tired, and I’m ready to move to the next chapter of my life. As of today, I am officially retired.  Talk about a Naked on the Tundra event!

 retirement-bracelet

My oldest grandson made me a bracelet to wear out to dinner tonight

So what’s my big plan?  Well, I bought a farm along with some of my family members and moved back to Michigan full time.  Yes, I am aware that no one retires and moves TO Michigan.  But that’s where my people are and I believe that’s where I need to be, too.  At the very least, I plan to spend more time writing on this blog and maybe one other as well.  Maybe I’ll even write that book that I’ve wanted to write ever since I was a kid.  First, though, I’m going to rest.  This winter I will hibernate, pray, and find a new rhythm, listening for whatever it is that God has for me next.  There’s no plan to get another job, for sure not a full-time job, but I know something will come along and God will provide until I can start getting that big social security check!  Okay, we all know that’s not a real thing, but I’m still confident that it’s all going to work out. 

To everyone I’ve worked with the past thirteen years, I will miss working together, but am looking forward to being friends outside of work.  And to my team, you’re the best people a woman could ever hope to lead. Much love always!

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