New

It will be a brand new year when we awake tomorrow.  I think I'm ready for some new. We've had many new experiences this year, but I can't really brag that it's been much fun.  Ol' Abner has a gently used "new" lung.  While it's wonderful to know that his life has been extended through the blessing of transplant, someone's loved one saw the end of life to allow his gift. That sobering knowledge makes us ever more respectful and willing to jump through the hoops necessary to keep that lung healthy and thriving. 

Enough said about that weighty responsibility.  This year we finished the new playhouse, we lived in Houston (not a new experience) and found some new eating places there.  Ol' Abner finally talked me into a new car, and he bought a couple of not so new ones.  We met some wonderful people this year and those new friends are feeling like old friends already. 

Having always subscribed to the practice that insurance purchased and never needed was a better option than needing it once and not having it, we found ourselves needing to choose new health insurance plans. Maneuvering through the website, holding for hours on end to talk to a real person, then dealing with the issue of the name (names) my dear mother placed on my birth certificate but seldom used! Today I think I can say, all needed coverage has been added to our portfolio. Of course, today is the absolute deadline.  For once I really wanted to finish the process early, but "early time" was truly wasted in frustration. Perhaps I'll let Ol' Abner sort through the coverage for all our dependents with wheels attached.

Finally Retired

I am younger than Ol' Abner. He retired from his working life earlier than many. When his company offered to pretend he was five years older than reality and then credited him with an additional five years of service, he gleefully walked away. By then I had tired of changing jobs and starting over as he was transferred time after time. With the most recent transfer, I told him I was tired of being a "trailing spouse" and thought co-worker a more favorable status. He laughed at me, I took the test,  I passed the test, the company offered me a job in another office.  I declined, he suggested I should take what was offered.  A couple of weeks later, a call came from the office where he worked with a job offer.  I accepted, he warned me that I must find my own lunch buddies, and we became co-workers.  It was a good fit for the most part.  He continued to lunch with a group of smokers, I made friends with some I met in training and a few others. Just over a year into my new employment, he wasn't transferred, he retired.  

I saw no reason to resign and stay home with him.  In fact I rather liked the idea of a "house husband". His initial plan had included an additional career, but it never happened.  He completed a few handyman projects, convinced me to quit my job and we planned to travel. First, he wanted to find a cabin on a lake somewhere and we began the search.  When the twin towers fell, everything changed.  Our retirement nest egg shrank and looked as though we might be headed for destitution.  I went back to work to boost our personal economy, and eventually was transferred to my hometown in the Texas Panhandle.  I bought a tiny house with a double garage (it gets really ugly in the winter there), and he proceeded to list our home for sale.  Meanwhile we had discovered the beauty of the deep lakes in the Ozarks. I worked and he assumed the role of puppy nurturer.  Our Belle selected him when she was only five days old. That love affair continues, today.  They traveled to the Ozarks without me several times and eventually found a thirty year old house, with thirty year old drapes, and we finally had our home on the lake.  I worked a little longer while he replaced appliances, flooring and counter tops.The drapes were the same fabric we had used to drape our windows in our new house in 1978.  I liked them then, and he thought I would again. The market had recovered and I bid farewell to my job. I had window coverings to buy.

A year or so later, I received a call with a suggestion that I might want to return to work in the office just across the river from our home in the Ozarks.  Ol' Abner had just been diagnosed with a new malady, and I gracefully declined.  When I ended the call, he reminded me that if he died, I would have not insurance.  As you know, I am younger than he. At his urging, I called back to see if I could change my mind.  I could and I did.  A week later, I was in yet another office, same company, some new faces, and back to the workforce. Mind you, my husband did not intend to die, but he always likes to point out the "worst case scenario", and he proceeded with his recovery.  The job, this time led me around Western Missouri, Eastern Oklahoma and Kansas.  I made some dear friends and loved the work. Ol' Abner rather enjoyed getting to know the old men around our little town.  After a couple of years, my weekday absence became inconvenient again.  I was needed to help settle Pappy as his age related dementia was evident. I took a leave of absence, then returned long enough to resign...again.  As I became a full time resident of our little Ozark community, I was repeatedly asked how I like retirement.  I still cannot understand how they confused my status.  Over and over, I had to explain that I just QUIT.  I was home and the paycheck had been discontinued.  How is THAT considered retirement? Having left the company for the third time, I accepted that my contributions to a 401K were the only retirement funds I would ever see.

I reached the official retirement age a few months ago.  I set up my social security income and received my Medicare card.  I spent endless hours on the telephone with an insurance exchange setting up my supplement and drug plans.  Yep, I am officially "old". What a surprise! I was notified that with the milestone age, I was eligible for retirement income from the company where I had enjoyed three short tenures. Even though I followed that old man right out of the job a few times, I can still enjoy a little retirement income.