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| Debra Pecor, Paralegal |
As
the months tick by way too quickly, I am looking to retire before the end of
this year. I will only be 62, but I have
been working since I was 16. My passion
then was to be a nurse and I did go to nursing school, graduated and got my LPN
license. I worked as an LPN but always
third shift. Then my husband joined the
Army (he got laid off from his job four months before the birth of our first
child). At least being in the military,
we knew we would have medical insurance to cover the medical expenses and off
to Colorado we went. (Okay there were
stops along the way, but that’s for another day). Our oldest son was born the day after I arrived
in Colorado Springs….and my husband was still in Oklahoma. He missed the whole thing. He was there though when our second son was
born. My husband served 3 years active
duty and then back to Vermont we went to do 4 years of National Guards, since
we knew that his next duty station would probably be Germany. This was in the 1970s, we were young and
thought we couldn’t possibly go to another country. I was terribly homesick while we were in
Colorado and our children wouldn’t be around their grandparents, all kinds of
excuses.
Now looking back, it seems like
perhaps he should have stayed in. I hear
everyone talk about how they were stationed all over the world and the
adventures they had. I am sure we all
have times when we look back and think “why did we do that?” or “why didn’t we
do that?” I don’t regret the decision we
made because I still feel it was best for our family. I wanted our children to grow up in the same
town I did (even though others couldn’t wait to get out of there), to know
their grandparents and spend time with them.
My sons were old enough to even have great-grandparents on my side of
the family. Those are memories that can
never be replaced. What does this have
to do with retiring? I hear and see so
often in obituaries or through friends “oh he just retired a month ago” or “she
was set to retire at the end of the month.”
I want to be sure that I have time with my husband, with my
grandchildren, with my sisters. My Mom
passed away at the very early age of 70……..just 2 years after her 88 year old
mother died. Never expected that. No one knows what a day will bring. There is only one who knows the number of our
days, but I want to make sure that I make those days count. I expect I won’t just be sitting around! But maybe all those craft supplies in my
closet will be put to good use!! Well, I can hope!!
Make sure your life is full of
wonderful memories and no regrets!!
