The Saturday Morning Post: Reflections on the year past and the year ahead 6

I have to say, I have struggled a bit with finding a topic for this last Saturday of 2023.  I have written a couple of drafts that are in the draft folder, to be edited, or deleted later.  

2023 was in many ways a good year, but not without challenges.  

The first week after New Year, a new person joined the team at the office.  We work on a national perspective, and few people do, so generally there is a period of adjustment for newbies.  Beth bridged that gap in record time, and within a very short time was providing technical assistance from a national perspective.  

In late January I spoke at a conference in Tucson Arizona, adding on a few days in Phoenix, lunch with Doc Spo, and a wander in the gardens with Sharon from Phoenix Daily Photo, and a bucket list item for me a day at the Barrett Jackson Collector Car Auction.   

In February we ventured to Cleveland for Jay's family picnic.  It was great to see so many wonderful family members. 

In late April we splurged on seats in first class and spent a week in Iceland.  The weather altered our plans, leaving us with sights left to return and see, but also opened opportunities for experiences like the Blue Lagoon (when will it re-open or did we catch it in the last year?) 

Work dominated my time, and my plans for retiring was a shadow over that work. A lot of work went into transition planning. I have redone the office budget so many times, so many ways.  I will not miss office budgets.   

Fall brought a busy travel and conference schedule. I did a driving trip to Pennsylvania, including meeting Maddie for dinner.  Then Omaha to co-teach with Beth - she was the counterbalance to my clowning around and storytelling.  Then Chicago, and a side trip to see my sister, nephew and his wife.  It was a lot of travel in three short weeks.  In many ways a nice way to wrap up work travel. 

Presentations and training have been my favorite part of this job, and I kept doing those down to mid-December.  And now I am coasting in neutral, taking time off waiting for the last day of work. 

What will 2024 hold for me?  

I have four trips on the books, starting with meeting bloggers in NYC for lunch, and ending with a grand circle tour of the great lakes in September.  There are a couple of bucket list items in the travel plans.  

I will need to adjust to not having work dominate my life and my time. I have an irrational fear of waking up on a Monday morning in January and saying "what the hell do I do now?"  There is some writing I will do (I started to say, want to do, but if I am going to get it done, I need to say, I will do it.) There are always books that need to be read. 

By mid January Foodie Fridays will come back.  I love to cook, and with more flexible time, I should be able to come up with a post a week of "Cooking with Travel", or eating out.  I have a concept for a book about how to relax and enjoy cooking, that I can try out in my Foodie Friday posts.  

Some people fail miserably at working.  I have done okay.  In many ways I ended up with the job I dreamed of decades ago. A nice office, in a real city, a transit commute, someone paying me to do work I found rewarding.  Some people succeed at retirement, some fail miserably at retirement.  This time next year, let's see how I have done.