Yesterday was Joe’s last formal day at his job. Monday morning the movers are scheduled to bring his rolling tool carts to our garage. He plans to sort through the 50+ years of collected tools to determine what he will keep and what he will give to family and friends. We will work together to inventory the tools for the accounting we need to have during the move.
Today I sat in our garage
and watched Joe take apart an old recliner so it could be thrown away. Joe
enjoys taking items apart. When the children were little, he would bring home
old televisions for them to dismantle.
Today, I enjoyed watching
Joe pull out different tools to deal with the bolts, nails, screws, and staples
in that old recliner. At one point he had a small handheld battery powered saw
that he assembled and used on a metal piece. Sparks flew.
Joe was having a fun time.
Machining, working with his hands, figuring out how things work (or don’t work)
brings him joy. He loves learning. This morning, on his first official day of
retirement, he watched YouTube machine shop videos while eating his breakfast. And
after dinner, he went to his computer to watch more machine shop videos.
(Meanwhile, I am ending my day with an episode of The Closer on Netflix. One
could argue that I am learning something, too).
Joe’s joy for machining is
why he didn’t really retire at the end of May 2020. He went part-time… sort of…
in 2021 he worked mostly full-time instead of the 20 hours a week he thought he’d
work. In 2022 he worked some full-time months and some part-time months. Now HE
IS DONE. At least that’s the plan.
He talks of finding a
part-time job, after we are settled in Minnesota sometime next fall, which
allows him to be around tools. He’s mentioned going to work at a hardware store
or finding a machine shop that needs a manual machinist part-time. He has been
saving up money to buy two or three small pieces of machining equipment for our
new residence (we don’t imagine Megan will have room in her garage for a small
shop).
Joe’s idea of retirement
and my idea of retirement look vastly different. At this point, I recognize I
want to step back from human resources work. I want to spend time writing, interacting
with people in a non-professional setting, and whatever else I discover along
the way that brings me joy.
Two retirements, two quite
different people. I am looking forward to exploring a new lifestyle with Joe Coehlo.
P.S. Should you decide to
comment, please add your first name at the end of your comment if you want me
to know who you are.
Hardware Store.....the Mother Ship😍 eThel
ReplyDeleteYou know it! When we visited Rockford last September we drove around locating hardware stores. A few big ones we don't have here so Joe went in and checked them out. He also got cozy with an ACE Hardware store a few miles from Megan's - he had to keep going back for plumbing supplies.
ReplyDelete