Bookending my First Day

 

Jupiter Lighthouse
Jupiter, Florida
January 3, 2022

Yesterday was a great day to be in Florida! It was my official first day of retirement and while the mid-Atlantic region was getting hammered by a winter storm, I was walking on an ocean beach and enjoying outside activities in shorts and a Tee-shirt. 

The day began with a two-mile beach walk along the Atlantic Ocean. The beach was beautiful, but a storm was gathering inland which drove the sky almost black. As we neared the halfway point of the walk approaching the jetty, the Jupiter Lighthouse came into view. The black sky behind the lighthouse which was illuminated in the sunshine made a stunning image.

Jupiter Lighthouse
Jupiter Island, Jupiter, Florida
January 3, 2022

Chris made an insightful comment during the walk, she noted that "we are not on vacation, this is our life now." I have to admit, being my first real day of retirement the comment really resonated with me. 

Since the day was so nice we decided to bookend it by watching the sunset from the Intracoastal Waterway as we enjoyed Happy Hour together. As the sun set on my first day of retirement it was enjoyable to be sitting on a sandy spit of beach looking out at the lighthouse in a completely different setting. The sunset itself was not a hugely awe inspiring moment, but it was memorable and I, of course, captured it to document the ending of my first day of retirement. 

Sitting on a small beach, along the Intracoastal Waterway watching the sun set at the end of my first workday of retirement--wow, and to think, my alternative would be struggling in a major regional snowstorm. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, Florida