So a thing happened today

Don’t you hate when someone posts that on Facebook. And you scroll through the comments trying to figure out what the “thing” is, only to have the poster comment on their own post “if you know, you know.” Well if folks that you want to know, know, then why the heck do you have to put a vague notice out.  Alright, end of rant. I will not torture any of you with a vague title and then not inform what is going on.

I’M RETIRED! Yep, you read that right.  Back in December between having to work while I was in Wisconsin/Minnesota visiting, followed up by being the only one working over the holidays, and finally the kicker that there was a new spot in my lung, I came to the realization that I can’t do it all, and I definitely can’t give 100% if I try to do it all.  So I started filling out a disability retirement application with the federal government. That took 3 months. Yep, you read that right. Between filling out forms, gathering up medical notes, getting statements from my doctors, bosses, human resources and reasonable accommodation work group, all while still working, going to medical, recovering, and then eking out a little bit of time for myself, it took 3 months (go government processes). But I completed it, and in March I sat down with my Human Resource counselor to go page by page through my application. After over two hours of doing this, we felt the package was complete, it wasn’t, but my HR guy caught one missing document which was easy enough to remedy. So the next step was to send off the package first to NFC (National Finance Office), and once they were done they then sent it to Office of Personnel Management.  So at this point I’m still believing that this process will take 6-12 months, I’m shocked that HR and NFC ran it through so fast, but had heard horror stories about OPM’s time-frames. Well 2 weeks after the package got sent off I got a letter from OPM stating they had received the package but had sent it on to Pennsylvania (another office of theirs). This was April 10th. Again, very much embracing that I won’t hear anything back from them for at least a few months. Boy was I wrong, a short 3 weeks later, on Monday April 29th I get a message from my HR counselor telling me that OPM approved my application, and on a disability retirement I had until the end of the pay period, which just so happens to be this Friday (May 3rd). It happened so fast I have barely processed that this is happening. I felt like I had consumed too many espresso shots and couldn’t hardly wrap my head around what I needed to do, what I was going to do, and what was to come. Now that I am at the end of the week, I feel I have gotten what I need to get done, I had always known what I wanted to do going forward, and am beyond giddy that I get to start this new chapter in my life.  One where I can focus on living, my health, happiness and wellness.

So that is the “thing” that happened this week. I will miss my co-workers, peers, and especially my staff, but I won’t miss following someone else’s schedule, putting too much pressure on myself to continue at the same level I was just a few years ago.