And On August 17........

Getting There

As friends and family can attest, I'm an inveterate list maker.  Lists can take many forms; I love 'em all.  When I went back to work on February 10, I wanted a way to count down the remaining 36 weeks I had to work.  I conceived and executed the following weekly advent calendar.  On one side was the number of weeks remaining; on the other side one of the cool bug stickers I found at Walmart.  At the end of each work week, I enjoyed the intense satisfaction of marking another week finished by flipping the little tag from the number side to the bug side.   You can click on the picture to get a better look at the bugs. 
 

  

The weeks flew by.  I made a choice to stay fully committed to continuing to do my best work, and enjoy the remaining time with my friends and co-workers.  Being a long time state government employee, I was the beneficiary of the maximum vacation time earnings, which was 16 hours per month.  I decided that I would rather stop working early than use any significant vacation hours during my remaining time.  I know too well, however,  that life can have a course set for me of which I am unaware.  If no Life Events required otherwise, I'd be able to accumulate 10 weeks of vacation time. At the same time, I stayed prepared to use whatever time necessary for any Life Events that might occur. In the end, Life smiled on me!  The tentative date I'd set as my last working day, August 17th,  arrived without incident.

The Day

Two friends and co-workers, Lea and Kristin, generously volunteered to organize my retirement party.  This invitation went out in e-mail: 

 

They chose the Alice in Wonderland tea party as the theme, and carried it out in excellent detail.  This poster was outside: 

             This door decoration started the playing card decorations, which were carried out inside.                                                              

The table had chess sets and topiary.  This choice of theme and the creativity with which it was carried out impressed and pleased me to no end! 







 

Many people attended, and I was grateful to those who traveled from Tucson, Heber, Prescott and Holbrook to say goodbye.   The Department sent Command Staff from Phoenix to make a short formal presentation of thanks to both me and Ron (family is correctly recognized as being vital to the commitment and performance of employees).  They also presented these commemorative badges and recognition award.

Gifts were both thoughtful and plentiful from co-workers, friends, and family.

Thanks to everyone for such a great send off! And now........

I'M RETIRED!!!!!!!!!