A Tale of Two Parties

No Retirement can truly begin until there has been a retirement party or two.  The Place from Which One is Retiring should at least have some sort of ceremony with a Token of Esteem or two.  At the very least there should be an Official Certificate awarded.  A Personal Celebration of the Best Kind should also occur. It should feature a large collection of one’s friends, a goodly amount of scrumptious food and no discussion whatsoever of one’s previous employer. 

Well I’m here to announce that such events have in fact occurred.  The CWCC based party had to be rescheduled twice due to inclement weather but it did in fact finally occur.  The Warden gave me this Lucite dust catcher which now graces my fantasy bookcase.  There was a fair amount of decent food, not too many trite speeches and almost everyone I actually wanted to say goodbye to was present.

I also got my parole papers complete with the signatures of 4 Department of Corrections big kahunas in Richmond of the mahogany desk sort.  I hung it on the wall above my computer desk.  It keeps the wall from being lonely.

The Saturday before the CWCC gathering the Real Retirement Party was held.  Carly & Dean hosted the affair at their place.  The table was most richly laden, every chair & sofa was full and laughter was everywhere.  My Jubilacion has Begun!  And no, we did not talk about my Late Unlamented Employer!  We laughed, we sang some, we caught up on the latest joys of our lives.  We celebrated life & friendship & did Little Happy Dances because our lives, our families and our friends are truly worth celebrating.  The weather even co-operated, something it hasn’t been all that good at this winter. 

Viva La Jubilacion!  And thank you one and all who came to the real start of my retirement.  With extra special thanks to Dean, Carly and Da Urchin who worked so hard to make it all happen.  Let The Retirement Begin!