On the Road to Retirement (in Baby Steps)
I’ve been working since age 16 — taking care of kids (my mom did daycare in our home), farm work, teaching horseback riding, working the counter at KFC, on the line at a Hickory Farms facility and later doing retail in one of their stores. I was a groom at Golden Gate Fields, waitressed in East Oakland, was a mail handler at the post office in West Oakland, a file clerk in Berkeley, and a unionized office worker at Markus Hardware near Jack London Square. Then it was 10 years as a radio journalist and DJ in Havana and upon return from the island, landed a job as a receptionist. In 1993, I started working at SpeakOut (“you mean I can make a living doing social justice organizing?!”) where I remain to this day.
But when I celebrated my 70th birthday in August, I got a “congratulations” email from Social Security, reminding me of this concept called “retirement” and that I was among the tiny percentage of people who waited until this age to collect (7% of women)! Wow, I thought to myself, that’s kind of pathetic but at least it maxed out the amount I would receive monthly. So it got me thinking and while I love my job and feel rewarded most every day, there were also lots of things I wanted to still do, projects begging for my attention.
I’ll never “retire” from the social justice movement BUT I am starting to settle into the idea of retiring from work. First step — I’ve moved to a 4-day work week and am already loving it! Even though I can’t do much due to the Omicron surge, I’m finally starting those projects I’ve dreamed of completing — like 4 books in various states of completion, like creating with my hands again (from water color painting to paper maché to photography to jewelry making to gardening). And when things open up again, look out World, cuz here I come. Literally. And I’ve got tons of frequent flyer miles to make it happen!
