Congrats to him! Enjoy your time together. Do you plan to travel?

Congratulations to him!

May his retirement become the best half of his life.

Congratulations to your husband! I hope you two have many happy healthy retirement years together.

Aaaahhhh, secluded cabin on a lake, that would be a joy for me.

So nice to hear someone gets to retire :-) congratulations to you and your husband.

(I still post new threads but my first posting is likely going to be somewhat gobbledygook. That has not changed at least on my cell phone. So far my threads have not disappeared and then reappeared like some other people's. Knock on wood and rabbit rabbit :-).)

Rhizo, congratulations to your husband. We're just finishing DH's first full year of retirement and it's been a process. Very different for him after working all his life doing something he loved. He misses it some days, misses being part of a team and will occasionally do a little consulting or still attend a meeting or conference if just to catch up with old contacts. With a few changes to my own routine, truthfully - it's nice to have him around ;0)

Enjoy that lakeside getaway, and celebrate,

It's a big life change. Congratulations to your husband. I hope he finds some good outlets for his energy very quickly.

Congratulations to your husband and you on starting a new life adventure!

Many congratulations to your husband! Does he have any plans to fill his days? (My b-i-l retired from university life and has been a little bored/at loose ends since then. S-i-l hopes he finds a hobby soon. :) )

Oh, yes....he will miss people and the camaraderie, for sure. They've already talked to him about consulting on some projects and there's a group planning on getting together for lunch periodically.

He knows that I have to maintain a schedule of various exercise or I suffer physical consequences so have a schedule of my own to maintain. I'm not sure how that will work but we will figure it out. I am the reason he decided to retire early.

Best wishes.

Congrats to your hubby. I hope he really enjoys the retirement part of his life.

His life is changing. Yours will too. This is not so different from a honeymoon, to be followed by adjusting to being married to Another Person. Have at it!

Congratulations to your husband!

Congratulations. That was the best thing I did also. Enjoy every day.

Congratulations! I hope you two enjoy retired life as much as we do; it's an awesome thing not having to answer to anyone or keep to other people's schedules.

Congratulations to your husband Rhizo. Comments made by Chisue and Dawn are so true. There will be adjustments on both sides and I love Chisue's allegory with the honeymoon period. The consulting projects will be very helpful, so encourage him.

We both truly appreciate your well wishes so much. We are looking forward to our time together with anticipation. He couldn't possibly be nicer to have around all the time, lol.

Over the past several months, he's expressed more and more interest in cooking, expanding to whole meal planning and grocery shopping! How lucky can I be?

Congratulations! My husband is adjusting well lol. I am sure yours will also.

A lot of men have an adjustment period after retiring. Most men's identity is linked to their jobs. Ask a women to tell you about herself and she will usually say she is married, has x number of kids and then only her job title. Ask a man and he will say his job title first and then the others are after that. My husband was at a loss for about a year after he retired.

Congratulations, and hope you have many happy years of retirement. Enjoy your get away. It sounds wonderful.

Congratulations! So far we've found nothing to dislike about retirement and I'm sure you'll do the same!

Fortunately, we both have had active lives outside of our professional environments, making the transition a natural one. I'm not in the least bit worried about him and his ability to ease into a different lifestyle.

We're going to his office today to finish packing up (and I hope purging) his office.

Congratulations! Freedom from a job/perpetual routine is a good thing...

rhizo, your last comment says it all.. you are both active outside of pro environments and i think that makes all the difference!!!

you guys will be fine and i think, will enjoy it to fullest !!!

Congrats!!! All The Best!!! Enjoy all life has to offer!!

It is not often that hear about such a nice send-off. Your DH was lucky to have such a good working environment all these years. The fact that many are stopping by with their good wishes speaks volumes about the kind of person your DH is.

Congratulations on this next chapter.

Hello again....this is the last post on this thread, but I felt it needed to be officially retired.....just like my husband.

Yesterday was his official paperwork day and I so appreciated that he asked me to be part of it. (He's very IN to celebrating the moments.)

He had to sign paperwork at his bank regarding the direct deposit of paychecks. We are friends with the manager of that branch, so it was fun. She had a balloon for him, lol.

Then, we went to HR to sign a bunch of things, as well as receive a very nice retirement information package, including a special ID that allows him free or discounted access to all UAH activities. Lots of hugs in that group, some of whom he has butted heads with for many years. Lots of love, regardless.

From there we had to go to campus police to turn in his parking tag in exchange for his (free) retiree tag. It allows us to park anywhere at UAH, a big plus since we (or I) attend concerts, lectures, art shows, and other events frequently. Plus, he may want to participate in a retiree organization that's active in the community and meets on campus.

Back to his building where a group of his (and our) closest campus comrads was waiting to take us to lunch. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant, our favorite, and probably the best food in Huntsville.

I tell you....he has had a royal week, what a celebration of his time there. He's been hilarious since we arrived at home.

"This is the first time walking into the house as an unemployeed person."

"This is my first beer as a retiree."

And on and on. Great fun. It's about 6:30 a.m. here, the sun is up and birds are squawking all over. But he's still in bed, snoring softly. That's another first, lol. I'll fix him a favorite breakfast when he gets up, an event on a Friday, lol. (He won't get used to it, trust me.)

I'd like to thank you all for your lovely comments to this thread; we appreciate it very much.