READY OR NOT. Retirement here I come.

 There are many turns in our lifetime. Some are are slight curves, some are planned turns and occasionally there are those annoying detours. In December of 2015 my life took a turn. It was more like a roadblock that would lead me in an entirely different direction than I could ever have imagined. One minute I had an amazing life, the next started a chain of events that would end with life as I knew it being completely gone. Never did I dream that I would wake up on a September morning less than 2 years later wondering where am I and what happened to my life?

I had the most amazing life. My wonderful husband, Lawrence, and I were married 36 years. We had a great marriage, had raised 6 children, were blessed with 17 grandchildren, yes 17, and were enjoying our empty nest. Life was good. Lawrence had been diagnosed with a lung disease but we were assured by the doctors that he was doing great and it would be many years before it became serious enough to consider drastic treatments or a lung transplant. We both had good jobs we enjoyed, a great social life with many friends and were involved in a great church. After raising 6 children which took every dime we made we were just beginning to seriously start retirement planning. Late but better late than never, right? But then came a life changing turn of events that would lead to my husband's catastrophic lung failure, a bilateral lung transplant and just when it looked like he was going to make it cancer appeared and ravaged his body. He would only live 2 months.  

I remember sitting in my husband's hospital room once we knew without a miracle he would not make it and thinking to myself, I'm going to end up on the street. I was very calm and had no fear. You see I was not the breadwinner for our family, he was. I remember thinking to myself I am going to lose everything we have. It didn't really seem to matter all that much to me at that moment but it seemed like the reality of the situation. But God wasn't finished working miracles on my behalf. 

My husband passed away on July 6, 2016. During the next year I learned how to do "Life without Lawrence" as I wrote about often. Part of that life was living only on my income and to my surprise I did it quite well. I was amazed at how much lower my expenses were. I soon began to relax and tell myself  I'm going to make it after all. But then came another turn. One year later in July 2017 my position at the job where I had worked for 20 years was retired. Another turn but this time a complete rerouting as Siri would say. My husband had died with pretty much no retirement. I was retired with no retirement. Ready or not, retirement here I come. This blog is about my limitless retirement on a limited income. I believe I'm not the only one who wasn't quite ready for retirement or had to retire on less than they would have liked. However I believe we can have an amazing life no matter what the circumstances. At least I'm going to try. I invite you to share in my journey. Lets see where it leads!