Today is the First Day . . . .

When I was in college in the '70's a common phrase was, today is the first day of the rest of your life. It may have been the title of a self-help book. Today is that day for me. It's what I consider the first real day of my retirement. I officially retired effective COB (close of business) on Friday, December 22, 2006. But since I usually use some of my annual leave for time off between Christmas and New Year's, yesterday was the first day that I would have been back at work. But I did go back to work yesterday for part of the morning. There was a coffee/cake reception for me and an attorney from our regional counsel's office. Neither she nor I wanted to do the typical steak dinner retirement party, asking people to pay $25 a piece to come, $50 for a couple. The reception was nice and there was a good turnout of retirees from my field including several managers that played a role in my own success. So now that that is over, today is the first day of the rest of my life.