Letting go

The e-mail from the wonderfully-named human resources manager (such poetry) pinged onto my screen just after lunch...I can go on early retirement if I agree the figures.

A curt 3-liner signalling the conclusion of 32 years' continuous work.   Relief flooded through me. I must remember that if / when things don't quite work out as planned, and I start becoming sentimental about the good old probation days.

It is time to go.  I am quite sure of that.   But it is also scary - as big change invariably is - as I contemplate a huge drop in income and the challenge of creating my own daily structure.

I've been beholden to employers, and their whims, for over 40 years.  And now I can be free and decide what I want to do.