[wdfifteen]

I used to think I would never retire. When I was 65 I would have quoted Paul’s posts with a +1000. But something happened, it was like flipping a switch. Suddenly I was aware of the time work was stealing from my family and most of all from MrsWD, the love of my life. I decided I wanted to spend every possible moment with them. It’s been over a year since I started disentangling myself from my various business enterprises.
We bought a house and some land and I’ve been working on it every day, side by side with MrsWD and always having time for our friends and family. The physical labor of fixing this place up has revealed the extent to which age and arthritis have deteriorated my body. I’m working harder than I have in years and loving every difficult, painful minute of it. You couldn’t pay me enough to go back to what I thought I loved so much just a couple of years ago.
The biggest challenge to adjusting to retirement for me has been that my work defined me. I was known to tens of thousands of people (though I knew few of them) and it’s been quite an adjustment to suddenly be nobody. Now I’m defined by the people who love me, and I’m getting more and more comfortable with that.