Ahhhhh, Retirement

(1) Fred Green: " Today is July 1, 2016, another milestone, of sorts; this day, the official day, in 2006, I retired from Ford Motor Company, as I lay in a hospital bed at Henry Ford Hospital, my own private room, after 33.6 years on the job.
It’s not that I really wanted to retire, but Ford Motor Co. gave me an offer that I couldn’t refuse. A buyout. I just had to make up my mind by May of that year. It was hard at first because there were only going to give 12 spots for buyouts. There were 43 people in my unit. It seemed like people were trying to kill the person before them to get on that list.
However, I probably wouldn’t have retired or taken the buyout if it weren’t for prostate cancer. That made it easier for me to make up my mind. Considering that, all of a sudden the Union decided that they would offer the buyout to everyone in our unit and everyone took it.
There were many other things helped me make that decision. I was tired of driving an hour to work in the morning and 2 hours to get home in the evening. Deep in the back of my mind, I wanted to stay, though.
Anyway, it’s been ten years. Do I regret any of the past ten years? OH Heck no! What helped me get my peace of mind, I traveled. I went to London, Hawaii, And Mexico.
I went on two road trips, across the good old USA, one for 28 days and met a bunch of Internet friends. In those ten years, I bowled in over 30 bowling tournaments around the country and won quite a few times. Well, not outright wins, but I won some big jackpots and in one tournament, in Reno, I won over $1500! I had to file that on my taxes, though.
On the other hand I do miss working or doing something. In the beginning, I watched all the judge shows, you know, Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, and Judge Joe Brown, et al. all day long and into the night. I couldn’t do much but lie down and rest because of my surgery.
To top that off I had my knee repaired, 14 days later. I can say now, though, every day feels like Saturday, of course, except Sunday and holidays, and the occasional birthday. I have totally forgotten what a weekend is. For that matter, what the heck is a Holiday? That’s because my next holiday is…tomorrow! "



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