10 more days to retirement!

It is no longer creeping up on me slowly. My retirement is now rushing at me full speed! My last day in the office is Thursday, Dec. 18, which means I have 10 days of work remaining. I have to say, I am pretty happy and excited. I have had a wonderful career, especially the last 10 years or so when I have worked with the National Wildlife Refuges. I started my career with the federal government in November of 1974 and over the years I've had great bosses, and was allowed to work three days a week for 10 years while we homeschooled, and 4 days a week since then. I've gotten to travel across the entire U.S. and to Japan, Mexico, and Spain. My job paid for my Spanish classes and I have a paper that is getting published in a Mexican journal.

But it is time to move on to the next phase(s) of my life. I have been working on a list (yep, I'm a lister) of some of the things I want to do in retirement, and I'm pretty sure I will have no problem keeping busy and feeling content. I've decided not to jump into any big volunteer work right away. I want to help my parents and take care of their affairs, catch up around the house and property, and not overcommit. And, of course, there will be a grandchild to visit!

One thing I do have scheduled is a trip to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas in late April for a week of birdwatching! There are many new birds for me there, and I am already daydreaming about it.

In the future, maybe some trips to Spanish speaking countries to improve our Spanish and do some volunteer work. To be determined!

But for now, I'm wrapping things up at the office. Teaching my last classes, one last meeting with Refuge staff in Denver, following through on my two last publications ... and then cleaning up many years of accumulated papers, reports, articles, etc.. And the first thing I'll do after retiring is travel to Minnesota for the - Most. Wonderful. Christmas. Ever.