[Blessings2You]

They say if you want to make God laugh, tell Him you have a plan!

My husband's plan was to work until he was maybe 70, then get a part-time janitor job or something, maybe 20-25 hours a week. (He worked on farms all his life, so he thought a 40-hour week was part-time!) He had to retire on disabililty at 59 and, being a dude, there are times that he STILL thinks he should be working.

MY plan was to work until I was 65 (as Postmaster), then either go part-time as a window clerk or relief clerk, or see if I could take maybe 4-6 weeks of leave without pay each year. My back-up plan was to work part-time at the country store. I had to retire on disability at 58, and the store closed. I wouldn't be reliable enough to be on the work schedule anyway.

I'm not particularly whining here, just ruminating over how seldom things work out just the way we naive humans expect them to! Silly humans, we think we get to choose!

[barb02]

My plan was to teach 30 years here at EIU and then retire at 62 with a great pension, lots of savings, and travel the world. Instead, I am retiring in three weeks at the age of 55, taking a big penalty in my pension for retiring early, (hoping the state does not take away health care benefits for retired employees under the age of 65), and spent 40,000 to buy three more years of service from earlier teaching position. So I have some savings but not a great deal, and I am still dreaming about traveling the world, but not really as excited about the actual prospect of traveling. The state has decided in the last week to introduce legislation to do away with 3% annual cost of living increase for state retirees and change it to the rate of SS increases We all know how big they are

[nemsmom]

Originally Posted by Blessings2You

They say if you want to make God laugh, tell Him you have a plan!

My husband's plan was to work until he was maybe 70, then get a part-time janitor job or something, maybe 20-25 hours a week. (He worked on farms all his life, so he thought a 40-hour week was part-time!) He had to retire on disabililty at 59 and, being a dude, there are times that he STILL thinks he should be working.

MY plan was to work until I was 65 (as Postmaster), then either go part-time as a window clerk or relief clerk, or see if I could take maybe 4-6 weeks of leave without pay each year. My back-up plan was to work part-time at the country store. I had to retire on disability at 58, and the store closed. I wouldn't be reliable enough to be on the work schedule anyway.

I'm not particularly whining here, just ruminating over how seldom things work out just the way we naive humans expect them to! Silly humans, we think we get to choose!

I hear ya! I figured I would waitress for, well, I didn't know how long, hadn't thought that far ahead yet. I was only 19.

At 20 I had to stop working. So I got a whole 3 years of working in before I couldn't anymore.

I loved being a waitress in a small town.

Oh well, it is what it is. Obviously I was meant to do something this way. I guess I'll know it when it happens.

[SallyC]

Well, I chose Retirement at 62 and.......
HahAHahAHahAHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAha!!!!

[barb02]

Originally Posted by SallyC

Well, I chose Retirement at 62 and.......
HahAHahAHahAHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAha!!!!

sally@

[Kitty]

Life is what happens while we're busy making plans.

[Dejibo]

I knew I would retire from the prisons at 20 years (put me in my 40s) and then I would accept a job doing what I wanted to do, not what I needed to do, plus with all the extreme savings I would travel and see the world.

MS showed up, I fell, broke my back, was forced to take SSDI and an early retirement put Medicare as my primary insurance which covers nothing, and travel?? forgettaboutit...im tired! im confused, im dizzy, im constantly having to see an MD or have an appointment in the way so I cant leave, and then...lets talk about the sick cat who ate my savings! I love this cat, but dang could you have picked a more expensive disease?

So, here I sit, about to turn 50 in a couple of months, no energy to travel, my savings is purring at my feet, my calendar is full of MDs not full of states to see, and its nothing like what I expected.

[Jules A]

I recently had a nurse friend pass away at 61. She had sarcoidosis which we knew but had no clue she was so ill until she left work early to go to the ER on Wednesday, was discharged that evening, went back to the ER Thursday and passed away in the hospital that day.

It really put things in perspective for me because I really, really don't want to go to work one day and die the next unless of course it is an unexpected car accident etc. in which case I would just be relieved that MS didn't cause me to linger for years.

Dang there really aren't many happy endings are there? I guess it isn't MS specific?

[doydie]

So what we are all saying here is that all our travel plans take us to the doctor now. Wow, what a trip.

[Dejibo]

Originally Posted by doydie

So what we are all saying here is that all our travel plans take us to the doctor now. Wow, what a trip.

and I am exhausted like I did an African trek the the safari for weeks when it was just a check up in the big town not too far away. The car makes my body hurt to ride in it, the chairs in the waiting room make it worse, and lets not even talk about those comfy tables they leave you sitting on.

How did it turn this direction? I had plans!