It is hard to believe that day 26 is already here.  Almost a whole month has passed.  That means I will have only 399 months of retirement before hitting the 400 months that I had with RBC.  

Roxanne and I went away for 5 days to the Seattle/Mukilteo area and we had lots of fun and made many wonderful memories.

It was the first vacation/trip that I have taken where I did not have to deal with emails, answer phone calls or think about what was waiting back at the office.  It was just a time of great relaxing.   I would recommend it to everyone.  The work-a-holic who no longer works had a VACATION.  Amazing….

Roxanne goes back to work tomorrow so hopefully one day she will have the exact same feeling.

While visiting Seattle I met a couple of people on the street who impacted me greatly.  They were great to talk to and they put smiles on my face.  I trust I was also able to put  SMILES on their faces.  I have to continue to greet every morning with the realization that I am so blessed.  My life truly is EXCEPTIONAL.

We are praying for all our friends in Ukraine today as we have been reading about the present situation with Russia.

I will be back working on the “closet” tomorrow, and hopefully this week I will make some progress.  I don’t think it will be finished until the new year.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

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Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name.
PSALM 100:4 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/psa.100.4.AMP

It is so hard to believe that 18 days have past since I retired from RBC.  This past week I kept myself busy with shoveling snow, putting Christmas lights on the outside of the house, running errands and cleaning out my office.   I found myself on the roof with lots of snow so I made sure that I was not one of the people that Mona always talks about.  I did not want her to be using me as an example of someone falling off the roof while decorating.  There would have been no disability income for me as I am no longer employed.  Listen to Mona when she talks about the importance of being “protected.”

I also had the chance to talk to one of my great friends in Colorado and discuss what he is doing with the mission agency that he is working for.  It was great to catch up and learn about all the great things going on.

Friday morning was the first time that I really missed being at work.  I almost felt lost on Friday morning, not knowing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.  Then I went out for lunch with a friend and everything kind of felt “right” again.

Today I was cleaning out my wallet and found a few business cards.. Every time I see something associated with RBC I am reminded of the wonderful career I had as well as the fact that I was blessed to work for the world’s best company.  For those of you who are still working for RBC never lose sight of the fact that we are so blessed to be associated with OUR company.

In the next few days I will be tearing out the carpet out of my office and getting ready for the next stage of Roxanne’s closet.  As work progresses I will share some pictures.

As mentioned in previous postings W Network is showing amazing Christmas movies, this past week I have watched more than I probably should have but they are great.

I am also reading “Red Famine, Stalin’s War on Ukraine”  It is a powerful read.  I am going to try to read at least one book per month.  That is one thing that I missed so much while working.  I used to love to read and I have fallen way behind in reading all the books I have.

The Grey Cup game comes to Edmonton this week, so it will allow for lots of activity in the city.  I trust that some of you will be able to enjoy the activities.  Have a great week everyone.

I can’t believe that Day 12 is coming to a close.  It has almost been 2 weeks since my retirement/re-firement began.

When I had been on a two-week vacation it seemed like I had just left the office when it was time to go back to work.  At this point in time it feels like I have been away from the Bank for a very long time.  Much longer than the 12 days that it has been.   I am certain that it will be an interesting transition.

Over the weekend the last of the office furniture went to good homes so now it is time to start ripping out the carpet, and peeling wall paper to start on the new “closet” project.  I have been sitting in the empty office in my chair thinking about all the wonderful memories from the Bank.  I wish I could have accomplished more.  I know I could have done so much more and been an even more impactful leader than I was.  In saying that I am so thankful to RBC for all they entrusted me to do.  My career was EXCEPTIONAL.

Today was a day off work for Roxanne and in addition to housework, going through mail, and doing laundry we watched 6 Christmas movies on “W”.  The Hallmark Christmas movies are absolutely amazing.  Make sure you take some time to watch some of them this Christmas season.

One of the reasons I retired was that my “hips” have been giving me lots of problems and I am waiting for the next “step”.  I will say that over the past 12 days they have been impacted even further.  I don’t know if it is because I am doing more physical work or what the cause may be.  The one thing I learned over the last few days is that I can no longer hide my limp from people and that it is becoming very difficult to walk.  I have to remain confident that everything is going to work out just fine.

Who knows this Blog over the coming months may discuss hip replacements and recovery.  I have found some other ones and they have proven to be an interesting read.

In the meantime I will continue to discuss my transition, and the great things that are in store with each and every day.

Have a wonderful night everyone.

 

It is very hard to believe that a week ago today I was still working and finishing up many of the things I needed to do.  Even as I sit here typing I realize that I did not get everything finished.  My apologies to my former employer….I sure did try to get everything done.

I have had a lot of ups and downs in the last week.  I used to get about 200 emails a day and spoke on the phone or was in meetings for much of the day.  Going at that speed late into your last night of work and then shutting it off has been a challenge for me.

Yesterday my phone rang, the number was from one of my former team members.  I did not have a chance to answer it, but when I listened to the call later I realized it must have been a pocket dial.  I texted the person and said your “phone pocket dialed me”.  They had no idea how that had happened.  Maybe their phone knew I needed some contact 🙂

So far this week have installed a new monitor and printer, and watched a plumber install a new hot water tank.    The printer is an HP and is the smaller version of the printer we were using at the Bank.  I enjoyed that printer so much we had to buy one almost like it.    It is truly amazing the quality of printer you can buy now for a low-cost.

I also bought a blue tooth speaker to use with my new phone.   Mr. M.  you were 100% correct.  I don’t miss the Blackberry whatsoever.  The Samsung Galaxy S9+ has brought me to the 21st century.  It is so great to be able to listen to music on the phone.

Thanks to the W channel for showing all the great Christmas movies as I have been watching plenty of those.

Today I get to go to a lunch and an appointment so that will keep me busy for part of the day.  Then it will be time to make dinner for Roxanne again.

Last night was the first night I made dinner since retirement.  The Facebook post generated lots of likes and comments.  I am adding a picture to this post.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for taking time to read my Blog.  I am realizing that the transition of a self proclaimed work-a-holic into retirement is just a difficult as I thought it would be.

 

 

Today Saturday is the 3rd day of retirement.  I was blessed to spend part of the day at the Edmonton Eskimos game wife Roxanne my best friend and wife.  The Eskimos won the game but sadly missed the playoffs.  It was great day to be outside on a sunny fall day after yesterday’s snow.

I have learned that there are pros and cons to retiring at the beginning of November.  One of the pros is that we are starting to get close to Christmas.  Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year.  I love the hustle, bustle and all the activities.  I also love the movies and the Christmas music.  Sirius XM has started to play Christmas music and that has grabbed my attention.  As well one of the TV channels has started to play Christmas movies.  Roxanne told me to relax, so I have been spending much of my time  watching movies.  With Christmas on its way I know that all the activities will help me take my mind off the fact that I will not be working anymore.

In saying that one of the Cons is the fact that some of the music and movies make me shed a tear or two.    So with that in mind I will also admit that I have shed a tear or two over the last several days about “retirement” and not being at work with all my amazing colleagues.

I loved work, and was truly blessed by working with all the amazing people.  Countless people in society dread Monday mornings, because they don’t want to head back to work.  They are lost in a job they don’t enjoy.  I never had that feeling.  I will be the first to admit that many days during the 400 months had challenges but never once did I not want to go to work.

I used to say to people that Friday was the worst day of the week because we would not see our colleagues again until Monday.  The follow-up statement was that Monday was the best day of the week because we were back at work with our colleagues.  People used to laugh at me all the time when I would share that phrase.

Some of my love for work was probably my personality,  but I am confident that there were other things at play to ensure that I remained positive, focused and impactful.  I will talk about some of those over the coming days and months.

Bottom line, after 3 days  I am missing work very much.  But for the first time since grade one I realized I don’t have to be responsible for anything.   Roxanne of course is an exception to that thinking.

With that I will end for tonight,  thanks everyone for reading and enjoy that extra hour of sleep that we will get this evening.

 

The Retired Banker Blog will become active on November 1, 2018.

I look forward to writing about the next season of life.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton