I’m going to retire at the end of the year.  It’s a time of reflection, and asking of questions.  What will I miss?  What will I do? Who will I be?

The thing I’ll miss most is the wonderful relationships I have made at the agency I work for, both other staff and the clients I work with.  Staff are like family at New Visions.  We help each other with things when somebody needs a hand.  That’s the kind of people I work with, and that is why they are people who work people with mental illnesses.  Being at New Visions is a good place to be, whether you’re staff or a client.

My clients, I will cry the last couple days I’m there, cos they have gotten to be like family.  They do things like give me really nice birthday cards and always try to feed me, lol.  Three of them gave me the roses pictured above, so I would never forget them.  Like I could ever forget them.

There is one client from a few years ago who left to go his own way,  but after that always called me on Mother’s Day and Christmas to wish me a good day and also asked about my family.  Now he keeps me supplied with horse manure for my garden, lol.  How could  you forget a guy like that.

I ran into another client from a few years ago, a guy who was just instantly likable by all who knew him.  A good guy all around.  He left to go his own way too, but now finds himself in a position where coming back to one of our Fairweather Lodges would be a good thing.  We’re working on that.

One of my current guys asked me if the agency was making me go away cos I’m old, lol.  NO!  This is my idea, to retire.  And then he asked me, if it’s my idea, why would I cry the last couple days?  Because it’s double-sided, wanting to stop working after such a long life of working, and still knowing it will be so hard to walk away from people I’ve come to love.

It’s a chapter of life that’s closing.  It’s natural for such a chapter to close around this age, but it will still be hard.  I told them I will visit and they need to visit too, cos I’ll be around.

A new chapter opening is exciting and gives me a lot to look forward to.  No alarm clock ringing at 6:30 AM, in the dark and cold of the winter; that’s a big one with me.  I hate getting up in the dark.  No regimentation of having to be somewhere all day 5 days a week.  Getting to choose when to do this and that, where to go and when, what to do to keep my body and mind active.  Time to spend at our historical society, doing some research on my own property and more on our town, and showing visitors thru our building and collection.  Lunch with friends and sitting with my neighbor drinking coffee on the porch in the morning when it’s warm.  Gardening bigger and better next year, that’s a big one with me too!  I grew a lot of food this year and want to grow more.  Cooking different ways since I’ll be around the house a lot more.  Working on keeping healthy as an old lady, who has the Medicare card to prove it!

Tears and smiles all at once for the fact that life moves on.  And so many good memories, that will live on forever.  About 24  years working in mental health; it’s been a good run.  Now soon  on to the golden years, with roses to smell.  And blogs to write!  More ramblings for my great readers!