Retirement Reflections - I didn't know where I was going ...

I didn't know where I was going but I was getting there too damned fast.

I naively thought I was going to $WORK until I couldn't. The $COMPANY thought otherwise.

Initially I thought I needed to $WORK. My entire identity was comprised of my work. I am my job/profession.

• You don't work, you don't eat.

• You don't work, you can't support your family.

• All I have ever done (mostly) is work. I don't know anything else.

• I never planned on not working.

Now before I go all off-on-myself I need to remember that the career that I settled oh so comfortably in was an extension of my avocation not my vocation. Years ago when I realized that I was not going to be able to "retire" from being an EMT I sought out a career path the included my hobby, my passion, my heart's desire; Personal Computers.

After two additional years of college, paid for by grants, to achieve my Secondary Education Certificate (with a "minor" in Computer Science) I spent a year, grossly under paid and overworked, in Education. Again, I realized this was something that I could not "retire" from.

I applied for, and finally, received a position with a manufacturing concern as a PC Tech. I made more money the first week than I had made the last week of my 5-year EMT service. I was more fulfilled the first day as a PC Tech than I was the entire time I was in Education. This was a career that I might eventually retire from, that was clear.

I didn't have a job, I didn't $WORK, I just continued with my hobby, my passion, my heart's desire; Personal Computers. And they gave me money in return.

Fast forward to: The $COMPANY thought otherwise.

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