Three Years On

Facebook's memories algorithm picked up on a three-year old post on Thursday. I posted on my move into what I called my Third Career. I have now been "semi-retired" for these three years. I went from full-time to part-time in December 2013. I had spent some time getting ready for it including some personal coaching. I did reading and writing, talked to our financial advisor, and did a lot of meditating on it. My wife had already retired and was enjoying it. I was a little apprehensive, needless to say, but I knew it was right. I just wondered what Career Three was going to look like.

Well, it took about two years for the whole thing to settle down into something that resembles "order out of chaos." Here are some of the reflections as I begin the fourth year:

• Last winter was the first time I thought of myself as a "snowbird" with two places to live- and not just going on vacation to Alabama in the winter.
• Music has been at the top of my list- and for the past 18 months, half of the time since the move, I have been taking great advantage of the time available to really improve my trumpet playing- and develop the Tuning Slide blog.
• This year the writing has really fallen into place- a big part of Career Three. I didn't do as much on my memoir as I had expected. Instead I got sidetracked into following my dad at the end of World War II on another blog series and then turning the Tuning Slide into a book and finally publishing my Christmas stories on Amazon.
• Photography has not been as much in evidence as I expected it to be. I am connected with a snowbird photo club in Alabama and am looking forward to doing more with that this coming winter.
• Travel has been fun. We have had to make a number of family trips to the east coast. In that we have made connections with some old friends that we haven't seen in years- and done some fun sightseeing. When you are not constrained by having to get back to go to work, you can take your time and be mindful.
• And the ability to just spend time with my wife doing whatever we want to do- or don't want to do- has been great. There have been great hours together in the car, for example, listening to books, podcasts, music, NPR, etc. and talking about them and just about anything.

The other day one of my co-workers was getting ready to retire. My comment to her- If your retirement is even half as great as mine has been- you will love it.

Year four is starting.

• I have two major writing projects I want to tackle.
• I really want to do some musical composing.
• I have a couple videos in mind to produce.
• I am looking forward to becoming an even more accomplished trumpet player.
• Sightseeing, visiting and traveling will continue.
• Life is good!