day one

The question has come up a number of times the last few days: When is day one?


Was day one actually Friday night when I shook the last hand and signed out for the last time? That would have, theoretically, been just another Friday night when Jimbo would have left work for the week, just like he has countless other times over the last five decades.


Or, would it have been Saturday, the first day off work after a long career? One could argue both sides. On one side, the argument is that, although Saturday is a typical day off, that it was a different Saturday, since I left the job at work and was not thinking about the previous week or strategizing about the week upcoming. I think I disqualified Friday and Saturday as day one because I still strategized in bed Friday night and wondered what I had failed to impart upon my replacement and what I needed to communicate to him.


Sunday as day one would have been a lukewarm argument. The pro-day-one argument was that the elimination of Sunday night mental preparation for the following work day was not necessary and therefore a relaxed Sunday night. However, the strategizing continued. What did I forget to do? What did I leave out? What did I fail to give emphasis in my last week of training the new guy?


Therefore, I assert that Monday was day one.


The strategic planning and the “what if” and “if then” scenarios were beginning to move to the recesses of the brain. The realization that total release from a career that demanded 24/7 attention will not happen in one day or one weekend had begun to set in. The realization that I am not free and won’t be for a week or two—or maybe more—had become reality.


However, I was as free as I had been in any time in recent memory. In an era where the day off no longer exists, where holidays are a time to be with the family and sneak in some work time and when the definition of vacation is doing ones work outside the office, being retired takes on an unfamiliar significance. I am not complaining, though. I am good with it—very, very good with it.


Yeah, Monday was day one.


And if you were to argue that my first day of freedom was spent doing laundry, cleaning house, cooking and doing dishes and that doesn’t sound like much of a way to enjoy oneself, I can only suggest you try it some time. It’s about as good as it gets.


Now, let’s see what kind of a ball we can have on day two.