DAY 152 - BACK TO WORK!

It was a very good feeling to go through my closet looking for that just right outfit to wear to a conference.  YIKES!  This was a group I'd never worked with before.  Hmmm.  Would the black silk jacket lined with hot pink be too much?  Could I still walk in high heels for an entire day?  Should I carry a briefcase?  Damn, where did I put my pads of paper?  

YES, yesterday this retiree started back to work!  It felt pretty good, at least for the first 3-4 hours, then I started to remember what it was like to actually pay attention, sit in a chair, not talk, not surf the web....for eight hours.  Whew.  I appreciate all of you who are still working even more; and I am wondering if I can still do it.

My project is to summarize a two day meeting on a topic with which I am not familiar.  My first reaction was to balk at the task because it seemed awfully easy.  I'm having second thoughts now as I have received three emails with about 8 or 9 attachments I need to review, organize and put into a 4-5 page paper for the same people who were at the meeting and of course know the subject matter inside and out.  Somehow it doesn't seem as easy as it did yesterday.

Here is another shocker for those of you who have not yet retired.  For every dollar of work you perform, subtract 43 cents.  Yeah, I know that I've been paying taxes for at least 49 years, but in all of those days, the taxes were subtracted before I got the check.  My employer also paid some of them, like social security.  Somehow, that seems so much less painful than what faces me in the future.   

• GONE - 25% to Uncle Sam.  
• BYE BYE - 6% to Aunt Virginia.  
• HASTA LA VISTA - 12% to cousin Social Security.  

It makes this "big government, bleeding heart liberal," almost want to cry.  I'll get over it.

This and any other little jobs I get are going into my travel fund.  That's what will keep me going.  Oh, and I also really enjoyed being among a group of people who were still working.  I kind of felt sorry for them.  Being retired, it is so nice to know that I don't have to accept an assignment if I don't want to.   hahahahaha

Potential employers - I'm not laughing at you.  Keep those requests coming.  I'll be thinking of all of you on my walking safari in Africa.