So far, my retirement lifestyle has been much like my pre-retirement lifestyle except I'm not interrupting the good parts with a 9 hour hole five days a week at a job I was increasingly not enjoying. Part of it was declining work conditions since the latest corporate takeover and part was my changed attitude and abilities since my bout with cancer in 2008. (Chemo brain is a real thing). Without that I have no doubt I would still be working full time. My part time job at the bike shop is something I look forward to doing instead of dreading.

I now have more time to ride and work on my bikes. More time to work on family finances which are a little tighter now. Since my wife continues to work full time and secure the benefits for the family, my share of the house work has increased, but I work that around the hours I choose for other stuff. More time for working on bike club and bike advocacy projects.

With my wife still working and my son so active in his senior year of HS, we have not done much travel yet, but we do have plans for some nice vacations in the coming years. I'll work it out so I can do more bike adventures taking several days. I have several things in mind.

One thing for sure. There has not been one single time that I wished I had waited longer to retire.