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  Back in 1992 I was single and employed as a technical consultant. I decided that since my consulting assignments lasted from a few months to two years that I could tell the consulting company "don't find me a new gig" and "don't pay me" for three months. This was at a time when my firm would ordinarily pay me a salary even if I didn't have a consulting assignment. I also said I'd be back in three months. They agreed to my proposal.

My purpose for the sabbatical was to test how I would deal with retirement (even in my late forties I was looking ahead). Anyway, I got the three months off, and from the first day kept a journal. I would write in my journal every morning for up to an hour.

What impressed me most about this sabbatical was the different experience of time. Instead of rushing off to do a series of errands, I would slowly wander through each store in a small shopping mall. When a magazine arrived in the mail in the morning I would read the entire magazine in one day. One Fall day with no breezes I watched all the leaves fall off a tree in a single day. The leaves simply rained down the entire day while I was reading nearby. It was a beautiful sight and very calming.

I did get in some travel, a week long cruise in the Carribean. I came back refreshed from my "retirement sampler," knowing that I wouldn't run out of enjoyable things to do during retirement. The next year I was married and today I have a nine year old son.

I find myself in a similar situation today. I have just two days of work left before being laid off. While we have sufficient finances for retirement, I want to work for several more years. Work is both for the money and the physical and mental stimulation it would give me. So I start off July 1st for another "retirement sampler" - perhaps a few months with my son over the summer and some time to work in the yard, clean up the house, etc. The first thing I will do on Tuesday is buy another composition book for a daily journal. The second thing is to buy a stuffed animal, which I'll name "Way Searcher II." I got "Way Searcher" (a unicorn) as a magical mascot when I was out of work once before. But that is another story...