Welcome to R & R

R&R traditionally means “rest and relaxation” and/or “rest and recuperation” for the military. For me, R&R is retirement and relocation. In early August, I retired after 40 years in the full-time workforce. Two weeks later, my husband and I moved to North Carolina. That was after two-thirds of a lifetime living in the Washington, DC, area, with the last 26 years in our home in Arlington, Va.

Emotions and possessions. Lots of emotions. Even more stuff.

Yet, retirement is hardly unique, especially for my generation.  On August 10, the day I retired, about 10,000 baby boomers turned 65. You may have read that every day between 2011 and 2030 some 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65.

In short, I’m not alone. A lot of us are going through transitions.

For 40 years, I paid the rent and later contributed to a mortgage, had a health plan (most of the time), and helped support a family by being a wordsmith.  

Wordsmith.  Isn’t that a wonderful word? It’s what I did. It’s what I still do, consciously and subconsciously. Ergo, R&R, where I will continue to practice my craft and write about a range of topics from the world of work, about writing, and about the dislocation, and adventure, of relocation.

I look forward to exercising my writing muscle and to broadening my circle and adding new ones.  And, to all those boomers who are turning 65 today, tomorrow, and the day after:  Happy birthday. 

Here's some of the stuff that didn't make the trip.