During the last year of my retirement I intended to stay through my very last day in the office. Early on, however, my psyche began priming me for my post-retirement life, sending me more workshops, painting commissions, writing projects, and other matters than usual. I filed for early retirement a month earlier than scheduled. It was the Christmas break. I slipped away quietly and unobtrusively. When my co-workers came back to work after the holiday, I was no longer there.

Looking back at my last year at work, I see what a different person I was then. Barely eleven months later, I know that I am not that same person. If I had coffee with a co-worker today he/she would surely be terrified to see that I am not what he/she always thought I was.