Retirement

[AJLaFleche]

It's a strange feeling day: my last day at work...I'm retiring today. I've been working for the Department of Developmental Services, formerly Department of Mental Retardation, in the state for almost 32 years. With budget shortfalls looming and RIF's all around, they offered a get rid of dinosaurs incentive that played perfectly into my age and years of service so I took the leap. The office is giving me a retiment party this evening. While I'm happy to be getting out, especially right now with our, er, my former colleagues', caseloads increasing to near 70 people each, I do feel some sadness.

Anyway, there's going to be more time to build and paint, ride the bicycle (a new all carbon one is in the offing), read and do volunteer "work."

 

[housecarl]

Good luck for a long and fruitful retirement.
All the best,
Carl.

 

[megroot]

I wish i was in your place.
My date of retirement was 6 years from now. But the government decided in their great wisdom that it should be 67 now. So i have worked then 51 years in the hospital.

So i wish you great years in retirement, with alot of time for painting figures and doing the things that you really would like to do.
I hope that you may have a long retirement.

Marc

 

[Tony Lee]

AJ you know what? I loved my work very much too but I got over it.

Congrats,now enjoy what you've earned.
Tony Lee

 

[Guy]

Enjoy your retirement Al. I got over retiring.....took about 10 minutes. Now I'm ready to retire again.

 

[Major_Goose]

My friend enjoy your retirement. Here in Greece the right to enjoy retirement is already cancelled and we all will die working . So believe me you are really happy ! Happy paintning my friend

Costas

 

[John Bowery]

Al,
Congratulations on making retirement. So many people never get that far. Enjoy the rest of your life and live it to the fullest.
Cheers
John

 

[Dan Morton]

AJ - Congrats on reaching retirement and I hope for you many years of enjoyment ahead!

My own retirement looms in about 18 months or so and although I have some mixed feelings, mostly I'm looking forward to it. I'm also very grateful that the retirement packages of which I'm the beneficiary are still relatively intact.

Enjoy to the fullest!

All the best,
Dan

 

[PhilinYuma]

I salute you, sir. No one who has not worked with the "developmentally delayed" can have much idea of how draining that work is. I imagine that you carried an outpatient load. I saw the institutional side as a DON for two years, long enough to realize that changing "disabled" to "delayed" simply put an expectation on clients that they could never meet. Enjoy your retirement. I have been retired for about 12 years now. Never a dull moment!

 

[Einion]

Enjoy your retirement Al! Best wishes on using your newfound freedom productively.

Einion

 

[DEL]

AJ rock on. I should know mid August if I can get an early retirement deal.
My wife got an offer today but she'll have to work 'til March 2013 whereas I'm planning to go next March......two years of freedom yipeeeee.
Regards
Derek

 

[Johan]

Enjoy it Al !! lots of time now to travel, read, paint figures, quality time with family, etc.

I wish I could be sure that I can retire one day, hopefully in 15 years, although it might be in 21 years if our government ever decides otherwise ... a lot can change over the next 15 years, maybe no retirement at all ... it's always the working man who pays for the crisis, never the shareholders who caused it (ah, they ought to hang the lot !)

Congratulations on your retirement and happy Independence day by the way !

 

[mcsneed17]

i am very glad that you have retired .I am very much waiting for that day when i can say i have retired so i have two to three years to go.

 

[geaugan]

Good on ya Al. 20 more days for me. Can't wait, but know I will wake up in the morning and go "what do I do now! Go my first paper route when I was eight. My son says I don't know how to relax.