Retirement is official...

[T-Dubs]

Met with the folks today at State Teachers Retirement to turn in my paperwork and it's a done deal. As of June 11, I am no longer a contributing member of society.

At the end of my 'signing session' the counselor shook my hand and asked,
"So now what are you going to do?"

"There's this path; in the woods."

Tom--"Lice-free for 31 years"

[Patrickjd9]

Congratulations!

[Lugnut]

"There's this path; in the woods."

Good for you!

[SGT Rock]

Outstanding

[warraghiyagey]

So when do you start?
I believe I know of this path.

SOBO7

[shades of blue]

Congrats! I look forward to that day when I also become a "non-contributing member of society"....Actually, from what I hear, retired folk still contribute, just differently. Oh yeah, I hope to make it to 30 years lice free (16 years currently)....did I just jinks myself? Oh no.

[Footslogger]

You did it the old fashioned way ...you EARNED it !!

Different industry, but I'm a year and a half behind you.

Congrats. Enjoy that little path in the woods !!

'Slogger

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Congrats on the retirement. Hope you enjoy it as much as the dinos have.

[Pennsylvania Rose]

Lucky you!!! I don't know how you survived teaching that long - I'm pulling my hair out after only 5 years. But, ahhhhhh.....the summers!

[BigwaveDave]

Outstanding!, May I use your line when I retire? "There's this path in the woods" thats a classic. Enjoy and celebrate everyday

[moondoggy]

Tom: Best Wishes......Hike on brother,,Hike on
4yrs to go...in a very different industry.......

[Ewker]

congrats on the retirement...now go out and have fun

[StarLyte]

Besides the AT, I'm going to be sectioning the Buckeye Trail this year....come on out!

Now you can attend all the trail/hiker events too

Congratulations.

[jlb2012]

green with envy as you can tell

784 more days for me

[Photofanatic]

Congratulations!

Give us a heads up if you section the Buckeye Trail, Hocking County. That's our other home.

[moxie]

I flew to Chicago, attended my son's wedding. Flew back to New Hampshire, rented a car, drove home, on the way home stopped by the company I worked and officially retired, went home, had a lobster dinner, went to bed, got up at 4am, kissed my wife, drove the rental car back to Manchester airport, hopped on a plane to Georgia, was on the AT by 10 am the next day, spent six wonderful months walking home to Maine. Best damn way to start a retirement I could ever imagine. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I do.

[Lobo]

Enjoy your hike! I retired in 1999 after teaching for 30 years (the gov. enacted a 30 and out bill) and hiked my hike in 2000. You won't realize that you're retired until sometime in September when you are sitting in your car in shorts and a T-shirt behind a school bus. Did you get a watch? I did. " Watch the door doesn't hit you in the a** on the way out of the building!

[superman]

Well shoot...at least you saw it coming. I had no plan to retire at such a young age. Even though I had 30 years in I wasn't thinking about such things because I was too busy bitching about everything. This man said "Step into my office and sit down. You know...Jim...you haven't been a team player for awhile now and we all have to be team players." In point of fact I'm a damn good team player....I know what side I'm on....I'm just not to damn sure about them. He continued "I can order a suspension of your security clearance and a complete review of your file or you can retire." So I retired with a couple good memories and a bunch of bad ones. I was pleasantly surprised that I wouldn't have to work in Wal-Mart to make ends meet. The rest as they say is history. When I hiked the AT I annoyed the hell out of a bunch of thru hikers with way too many anecdotes. Some actually politely listened or they had ear plugs in their ears. You never know where a single act will lead you; in 1965 I was supposed to stay home and mow the lawn....blah, blah, blah, etc.

[T-Dubs]

Thanks for all of the kind words, but all I've really done is get old while doing my job. (-:
<snip>

So when do you start?

I've planned to start about a year from now. Getting things in order financially will take some time and I've got to get this old vessel ready for any trip. I've always imagined a thru hike as a grand adventure but now I think long sections are the way for me. I've read hiker accounts wishing, 'that I took more time to enjoy each day' type of sentiment. I'm now thinking a 'ramble along the Appalachian corridor' is in the future.

<snip>

Give us a heads up if you section the Buckeye Trail, Hocking County

Thank you for the invite. I may just take you up on that. I've got a son down at OU and I'm sure we could work in some hiking.

Tom

[walkin' wally]

Congratulations on your retirement

I have 32 months 1 day and about 6 hours left to go for my retirement ( not that I'm counting). I hope to be on the trail Monday am March 15th 2010.