Week 32 - Retired and Relaxed

It was finally here! My last week of work and my trip to Rhode Island. It always seemed like a future thing and now it was reality. Yay!

I worked late with Dana on Monday and rushed off to knitting, which ended up being just Andrea and me. Denise reminded me of the special library board meeting with the architects on Tuesday night, which was on my calendar but not on my radar. I had already started making piles of things to pack so wasn't too concerned but the meeting did go long so I pretty much went right to bed when I got home.

All of a sudden, it was Wednesday - my last day of work and of course I loaded it up. I had rescheduled breakfast with Darla from the prior Wednesday so was meeting her at Cook's Cafe at 7:00 but stopped on my way there to pick up cat food for Husker Cats. We had a nice breakfast and she gave me a tater tot cookbook as a retirement gift. Cute. I stopped at Super Saver for kitty litter and was in the office just a bit late. Brook gave me a drinking fountain for my cats, which was sweet. The day flew by and in the afternoon I finished cleaning out my cubie, met Becky in the parking lot to donate 2 boxes of stuff from my office for her Stuff for Strays sale, loaded the cat food into the bin and left work early to head home and pack. Just like that I was retired! I do have to work a bit the last week in August but it still felt like I was done.

My flight wasn't until 11:30 and now that I have TSA Pre-Check, I didn't have to leave the house until 9:00 Thursday morning. I picked up my fave grab and go lunch and was at the airport with plenty of time. My flight to DC was uneventful with only some turbulence as we punched through Hurricane Debby (or was it a tropical storm by then?) My second flight was delayed and Reagan airport is awful, which was compounded by me having brought the wrong iPhone cord so I had to beg a charge from some girls who had been on my flight. I got to RI 45 minutes late but Deanne was right there at the curb and we headed south, stopping for a meh dinner in Wickford before heading home to her new house in Wakefield.

Friday was our annual visit to Mrs. Bassett (our childhood girl scout leader) and Deanne's mom, but not before hitting 2 yarn shops - Mermaid's Purl in Wickford and Skein in East Greenwich. Of course I bought sock yarn in both - best souvenir ever. We got poke bowls in downtown EG for a late lunch and then took the scenic route home, going Route 1A along the coast. We picked up some snacks and ice cream and streamed Deadpool 1 & 2 to end the day. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday was check in day but we needed to grocery shop first so John picked me up at Dee's and we headed north. Our first stop was The Crow's Nest so I got my favorite fried clams and then we hit Trader Joe's. After stocking up on all kinds of goodies, we went down to the beach house and settled in - unloading groceries, making beds, etc. It was so wonderful to be back in our regular cottage and after enjoying sunset from the deck, we made a frozen pizza and watched Sherlock on PBS. We were all set for a week of relaxation and friends.

We had turned off the AC as soon as we arrived but the humidity completely left over night so we woke up to glorious weather on Sunday. We played Boggle on the deck and when John took a walk, I happily knitted while watching birds on the pond. We headed to Aunt Carrie's for a late lunch. It wasn't busy so we got seated right away but when our waitress was heading to our table with menus, she fell to the ground like a ton of bricks and had a grand mal seizure. 911 was called and tables cleared so the paramedics could get the stretcher in. When another waitress came to take our order, she said she'd never had a seizure before (she was a 22 year old college student) and they thought she'd be OK. We enjoyed our lunch (I had clamcakes and chowder) and then went to Job Lot and Stop and Shop for yet more groceries. We ended the day watching Good Morning Vietnam (I'd been looking to watch that since reading The Women) and eating popcorn.

I was 100% relaxed and looking forward to our beach week. As usual, John and I are pros at doing nothing together. I didn't really feel retired because this is our fifth year at the beach but that can wait until I get home. Until then, beach, friends, yummy food - bring it on!