I woke up at 6 am. The bedroom door was closed. No matter; perhaps my spouse had closed it so he wouldn't disturb me, then forgot to re-open it when he went to work. Had a slight headache so got up, took a Naproxen, and went back to bed.
It was about 9:30 when I re-awoke. Figured I should get up and start the day, since I knew he'd be home in a bit from the first part of his run. Figured I'd check some stuff on the computer first, so I opened the door.
My spouse was just getting up from the computer. He was still in his pajamas. "I wanted to wait until you were awake," he said. "I'm now retired."
Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 2006. As a professional bus driver, the DMV has fairly strict health requirements; blood pressure needs to be a certain level in order to keep one's medical certification. Understandable; having a driver keel over from a heart attack could really put a damper on one's commute. He was having trouble getting his BP in line with the requirements, and had to go on what was called "Transitional Work Program" or TWP, a program for drivers who temporarily can't do regular driving but are not disabled enough to go on long-term disability (LTD). There were several other drivers in the same boat. Eventually, though, the district determined that it was best to terminate all the drivers, my spouse included.
He never told me he was fired; he only told me he was suspended. We ended up moving in with his parents for a year while he worked with the union to get his job back. Thanks to their tireless efforts, he was rehired, with a stipulation: he would retire when he turned 55, the minimum age to retire and get a pension.
The years passed. We knew the deadline was coming. His 55th birthday was in June of this year. I started to remind him that he needed to set up a meeting with the union and management to see if he could get an extension on the retirement. He told me he'd take care of it. Then we got in the midst of family issues and I assumed he was on top of the situation.
Obviously he wasn't. Lack of follow-through has been a problem with him for some time; this time it landed us into some trouble.
So, what's next? He's technically not "retired" until he finishes his paperwork; he's merely on sick leave. He'll get a final paycheck this week, then once the paperwork goes through he'll get his unused sick leave and unused vacation time. And he will get a pension, though we're not sure how much yet. (I love unions.) Depending on how much his pension is, we may consider moving; we'll have to stay in the Bay Area to be close to his mom and his brother (both of whom we've been helping with errands and such) but maybe someplace a little less pricy than our current place.
The biggest issue is going to be medical, as it is for most people in this country. His will be covered since he's retired at 55; mine will not till I hit 55, 3 more years from now. He says he can switch us to another plan, which our doctor will accept, that's lower cost than the current employer-paid United Healthcare; not sure exactly how it'll work, and how long it'll carry us. Might be time to start thinking about if I can get away with taking some of my meds every other day just to stretch out the supply, but I'll see where we stand once all the papers go through.
Life is a constant balance -- last Saturday in WYFP, I mourned the fact that we no longer had the time to do what we wanted and needed to do as a household and a couple. Now we've got the time...but not sure about what the future looks like.