7 left, Tearing
Somewhere around mid-day I realized that today was my 23 year anniversary at my job, a pretty big number. I started on August 16th, 2000, scarcely two weeks after Ali and I moved to Florida. I was the one that had no job secured (Ali did), but I was confident I had a resume and skill set that would be desirable to someone. Luckily I was right. I managed to step into a job that is amazingly low stress overall compared to most IT positions, regular hours, abundant paid holidays, and generous vacation time. It also offered something I didn’t put much weight into way back then, a pension, something that is on the endangered species list for most employees in our country. In another 7 years I will qualify to collect my full pension benefit. Hell if I wanted I could stay even longer, racking up a big lump sum that I could collect if I stayed another few years. However that is not the plan.
As long as my financial outlook is as healthy as I anticipate it being, I will be out the door as soon as I can. 7 years used to sound like a lot of time but now I know the reality is it will pass before I know it as time continues to accelerate with each passing year on the planet. I look forward to that finish line and am anxious to see what life looks like for me at that point in time. If I am still solo or manage to take on a trusted co-pilot by that time, all I know is it will be time to shift gears in so many ways. I’ve spent a lifetime feeling responsible for a lot of different people, situations, and circumstances. I’ve already started the mental transformation towards the next chapter.
At the gym today my lifting buddy was there. He and I have been hanging at various gyms together since 2001. Although we talk whenever we are at the gym there is only one type of exercise we prefer to do together, chest. So I did chest yesterday as I reported. My chest was killing me from my layoff, it was very sore. Despite this, I asked my buddy if he did chest yet this week. He said no so I guess that meant I was doing chest again today, that’s how much I enjoy our bench press interactions, which surely number into the many hundreds over the last 21 years. My ability to bench was pathetic because of the soreness I already had from doing it yesterday, I didn’t care. I ground out the painful reps which at times felt like I was tearing my pecs, they were that sore. My buddy only has around a year until he can retire, man I am going to miss our bench press hang out sessions.
During our workouts we always share whatever is going on in our lives. Today he shared some stories regarding domestic strife (he is married with a kid) which gave me some renewed appreciation for some of the things I DON’T have to deal with as a single man. There are definitely some tangible benefits to being single. I am curious if I will follow the path I have seen others shift to. The path where once you are single long enough, the idea of being in a relationship becomes less and less appealing.