Amanda's Musings

I had planned to blog regularly about being retired, but if I ever began writing & reflecting on the process last January, those notes have been lost, with the exception of my daily journaling—which comprises most of 9 notebooks over the past year, rather more than I want to review at present! There were the practical details, of course, to be worked out to get my health insurance with Medicare established, then applying to begin collecting Social Security at 70, 2 months after retiring. But the biggest difference, and most immediate gift was the freedom of setting my own schedule: doing chores and running errands on any day of the week (and mostly staying out of stores on those busy weekends), taking naps if I wanted, and simply reading or exercising or whatever—whenever! The second biggest blessing was finally having the time and energy to begin decluttering. I had moved from a house with a garage in California to a 2-bedroom apartment in Sedro-Woolley many years ago, and the...

  [Note: I began drafting this on 11/28/25 and finished on 1/1/26] I thought to begin this on Thanksgiving Day when gratitude is a natural theme, and certainly one I celebrated by putting my ‘Give Thanks’ sign in the front window and sending ecards to family and friends. The grieving theme is big for me now as I just put my dear Dora, kitty companion for thirteen years, to sleep on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for the years of comfort and companionship I had with her, as I had for sixteen years with my first furbaby, Kenny. I’m especially grateful that I had a sweet cat to talk to and cuddle with through the long years of applying for job after job, trying to break out of a low paid customer service position with the state. Then less than a year and a half into my higher paid job with the county, we all got sent home to answer phones remotely all through the pandemic and beyond. For those nearly five years until I retired, Dora was my constant companion who ea...