I retired 6 years ago at age 62 with 34 years at AT&T. I had always planned on retiring at 65 but in 2013 AT&T made an offer that made my pension and 401K pots pretty sweet. My financial advisor said I'd be an idiot not to take it, so I did and I've never looked back. Leaving when I did was one of the best things I've ever done. Two months later I began having health issues that culminated in bladder cancer and surgery. Most of you know all about that. Then a year later, I was diagnosed with a type of breast cancer. There's no way I could have worked while dealing with all of that. Before I retired, I thought RAMbeau and I would take a couple of vacations a year, maybe a cruise or two. Well, nothing about my retirement has gone the way I thought it would go. I'm not complaining. Just saying that the things I thought I'd do, didn't happen... life had other plans. But, we've learned to just go with the flow and ride the waves when they come. So far, we're doing just fine.

It's true what they say. I don't miss the job. But I do miss my co-workers. A couple of months ago, my old boss (who lives in Atlanta) contacted me by email to say he was going to be in St Louis on business and wanted to invite me to join him and some of my former co-workers for lunch. I never see anybody or talk to anybody from work anymore so it was a nice treat to meet up with them and visit for a while.

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