Little plans

If all goes well, and I think it might, my last day of work in my so-called "career" will be June 20th, 2013.

I applied for an early retirement incentive program through my work.  I am eligible to collect a slightly reduced pension one year earlier, and they will pay me a lump sum equal to 12 months of my medical insurance premiums at my current level of coverage. Not a huge amount, but decent.
So I put in for it. I work for a large employer, so all of this depends on the budget people. They want the cost of the early retirement incentive to not overrun the benefits they anticipate. "They" being the highest management who make the final decisions on the budget for the next fiscal year. In any case, I will find out by May 31 what the decision is. If I don't get the early retirement package, I will only have one more year to work anyway. I will be sad.  And why? Not because it will dash big plans. But I will have to put my little plans on hold.

I have little plans for my retirement.  As opposed to big ones. I just want to enjoy my life without duress, and stop and smell the roses, so to speak. This comment is a cliche, but it is exactly correct at describing how I feel at this exact moment. I want to smell the roses, go for walks, take better care of myself, eat healthier, enjoy our boat, go camping, knit more, sew more, read more.  Make soup and homemade bread, perhaps grow some basil. I don't have huge plans for travel, other than to camp at Crater Lake this year. Besides that? I will will hang out at home.

I plan to not get up to an alarm unless I have a doctor's appointment or something. I plan to make, create, do, say what I want, when I want. I really am looking forward to puttering. Getting my house in order, getting my yarn organized, second-handing and garage saling, sewing, crafting, playing.

I will possess freedom of thought, freedom of expression. Freedom to do nothing or say nothing without being accused of being moody or lazy.

Time to think. To be mindful. To breathe. To enjoy this moment without already moving in my head to the next, constantly running down my list of priorities I have to get done before I am can move on to the next thing or get to go home.
Whatever happens, it will be right. I will make it be so.