I believe it has been almost a year, perhaps to the day, that I got really irritated at work, and thought, "I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take this anymore!"
After presenting for Christmas to Matthew, Abby, Madison, Megan and their parents an 8 day trip to Disney World, I was informed that I couldn't be off the 2 weeks that I had been promised 3 months earlier. You can mess with me, but don't mess with my grandkids!
I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. All of the reservations had been made, including a minimum of 2 meals a day for the entire Disney Visit, plus hotel reservations driving to and from Orlando, and a pretty significant amount of money had been paid. I came close to just walking out on the spot, but I am smarter than that. But not much smarter....
I immediately opened a blank spreadsheet, filled it with numbers, to see if I could pull off just retiring. I called ERS (Employees Retirement System) to make sure the numbers I was using were right. Within 3 hours, I knew it would all work out. I decided to wait a day or so, to make sure this is what I wanted to do, and it was.
I picked out my last day of work on the calendar, wrote my letter of resignation, invested in 3 years of service credit and waited for the check to clear my bank, and then 10 work days prior to my "date", I emailed my letter to all 3 of my bosses and the Admin office. I wanted to be sure that I did not back out of my plan.
Well, as I said, it has been a year, and I am so happy I retired! This last year, I have made so many changes in my life, that I almost cannot believe it.
Not only did I hit the ground running...I left work and drove straight to San Antonio to see my daughter and her kids. She had a little retirement party for me the next night.
I bought new tires for my car. I had a little work done on the car too...getting ready...to be able to hit the road if I wanted to hit the road. I was working on a plan...to travel a lot.
I went back to Spring, and had dinner with my niece. She gave me the name of a painter, and BAMM...he came over the next day and started painting the next. I had my house painted inside and out and added crown molding. WOW, it looked really good!
While the house was being painted, the painter was having problems with the dog. He wanted to be able to leave the front door open and actually take the front door off to refinish it. Diane said I could bring the dog to San Antonio for a few days. I was already going to San Antonio to get Diane and the kids for the rodeo. I had talked to her when I found I could get tickets, but it was a Sunday at 3 PM performance, and she said she would be too tired to drive home afterwards by herself. I had said, well, I am retired, not busy, and I can drive you to Houston for the day for the rodeo. I bought 6 tickets, so Diane, Matthew and Abby and Robert, Madison and Megan all got to go. I got to NOT go! They all had a good time!
J and I had made the trip to San Antonio (before the rodeo)...her first long car trip. She did great ! Will said the dog could not come in the house and she was on the patio for hours crying and finally around 9:00 PM Diane let the dog in and it made Will mad. Abby loved the dog and wanted to keep the dog. Will said NO. We did worry when we left Will home with the dog by himself.
Well, I had been there for a few days and Diane told Will that he would have to tell Abby that she could not have the dog. Diane's neighbor, Alecia, actually really loved the dog and was very interested in J too. If I was going to travel a lot, I really needed to give the dog away. She was such a good dog, I felt like someone would be very lucky to have her. Will could not tell Abby no dog. He just couldn't do it. J now lives at their house....IN their house.
I thought, hmmm, maybe I should sell the house, since I want to travel a lot for the next couple of years. I was going to use it as a home port, but that really didn't make sense...
Well, I thought it was a good plan, but I didn't have time to do anything about it, but just decided I would be thinking about it for a while. I decided to go to Fort Walton Beach, FL for 3 weeks. That trip had several purposes. The first was to just go somewhere and relax and not be on any kind of time schedule. The second purpose was to see if I could be happy living in a smaller area, like an extended stay hotel or a small corporate apartment.
It was during that trip, that I suddenly remembered, that I had always wanted to live in a high rise (I looked at 2016 Main in Houston before I bought my house in 1997). I also remembered that I wanted to live at a retirement type place, where I didn't have a care in the world. When I was working, I had so much information in my head about all of my cases, that it was just on over-load, and I really did not have many thoughts of my own, they were all about work. I was all about work.
In November 2008, I had done significant research on retirement buildings in lots of different locations. I happened to find The Towers on Park Lane and even did a drive by in January 2009. It looked really expensive and very exclusive to me. I really did not think I could afford it. I talked to my best friend Linda to see if she would be interested, or would consider it, because it is only $193 a month more for 2 people to live here versus 1. Of course, I would have bought a much larger unit, like a two bedroom, two bath plus a study if she would have been interested. I had thought, well, we like to travel together, but we also like to travel on our own. And, if we coordinated the right way, we would spend a lot of time not here together. It was just a thought.
Anyway, I had The Towers send me a huge sales packet and send dozens of emails regarding how much various things cost in 2008. I still had the emails with all of the attachments, and I pulled them back up while I was on my trip. I think I spent 10 or 12 hours that day doing research. I remember, all of the sudden I realized it was really dark, and I had not eaten or anything.
I tried my emails contacts again and found they all still worked at The Towers. I found that there were several units that I was interested in, and due to the economy, a couple of them were hugely reduced. I talked to Diane and my friend Linda a lot about what I was thinking and I thought long and hard for several days while I was in Florida.
On April 13, I came back to San Antonio for my grandson's 14th birthday the next day. I made an appointment for a tour on April 14. Diane and I got up early, went to New Braunfels for Matthew's UIL band contest, and after the contest we came to The Towers!
I loved it. Diane was impressed with the security and all of the amenities. We toured, had lunch, looked at the Unit I bought again after lunch, plus another, just to make sure that I was sure, and talked all the way back to Diane's house. I cared about what Diane thought, but it truly had to be my decision ALONE. That evening I filled out the application (It is a CO-OP, you have to be approved after the Interview process). I also completed the financial information that was required. I was in constant email contact with the sales office, regarding various issues. I knew I wanted to spend the night in the building, so I had the sales office make arrangements for me to spent the night that Sunday (April 18) in one of the hotel rooms. I came to the Towers, checked in, and about an hour later Diane and the kids came. We went out to dinner (no restaurant on Sunday evenings) and after dinner they enjoyed the pool and hot tub.
The next morning Diane came back and toured one more time with me. I turned in the paper work. I had made the required doctors appointment to provide evidence that I was free of tuberculosis of all things and that I was mentally capable and physically able to take care of myself . This is independent living, not assisted...I drove home on Tuesday, April 20th.
I already had a trip planned to Tucson and Sedona Arizona with my friend Linda and we were leaving Houston on Saturday, April 24. Will was still out of town, and Linda had wanted to visit Diane and the kids on Saturday and Sunday. Then we had wanted to leave at the crack of dawn on Monday, April 26 to head to Las Cruces NM for the night, but I had not had my interview yet. The Admissions and Termination Committee had agreed to interview me on Monday morning at 8:30 due to my tight schedule. OK...this is the semi-embarrassing part. I was told 8:30 by the sales office. The committee was told 8:00 AM. Linda and I left Diane's house early, drove down here to the area, and I drove around for about 15 minutes showing her around, and then we walked in to the building at 8:12 AM. There was someone waiting for me, wanting to know if everything was ok, etc, because we were late! OMG...and after I got upstairs, I was really embarrassed, as the men on the committee had on suits, the women were very dressed, like for a luncheon or something and they had been waiting on me. Apparently, they even have a brief meeting before the interview to be prepared to talk to me. AND I was late. I explained that I was told 8:30 and they just said, well, they were told 8:00. I was not sure they believed me. Then, when I left my appointment, the sales office called me, wanting to know where I was, because it was after 8:30 and I was suppose to be here at 8:30. I did have the Sales Agent tell the committee that she had told me 8:30. I was so afraid I would not get approved...not everyone is.
Well, after the interview, Linda and I went downstairs to the sales office, and I went in to do the Earnest money contract. The board would be meeting on Tuesday, and the Admission Committee would be making their recommendation to them at that time. I would hear something in the next few days is what I was told. I did explain that it would be very beneficial to me, to have a firm, binding contract prior to April 30, for the First time home buyer's tax rebate. I was told they did not usually accept earnest money checks or contracts until after approval, but they made an exception for me, and it was agreed if anything went wrong, it would be torn up and they were under no obligation to sell to me, if I was not approved.
Long story short...Linda and I had breakfast compliments of The Towers here in the building and by 10:30 AM, we were finally on the road and we got in to Las Cruces around 6:30 that evening. Poor Linda, had to listen to me go on and on and on about the Interview and how nervous I was. It had to have been a miserable ride all day Monday for her.
On Tuesday morning, we had stopped at a McDonald's in Wilcox AZ to use the restroom and get something to drink. I was still very nervous, and I knew the board met at 10:00 AM Central, and it was 11:49 AM Central. My phone rang and I sat down at a booth. It was a San Antonio number and I was told Congratulations, you have been approved by the board. I almost cried I was so happy. Once again, poor Linda, that was all I could talk about. We made it in to her cousin Barbara's house in Tucson at lunch time. I was still talking. I needed to settle down, Barbara had invited a couple of ladies over for lunch with us.
We had a good visit in Tucson, but I was feeling like I needed to do something about my move. I was on my computer a lot, and even hired my moving company for the June 28 move. Closing was set for June 24...and I needed to take occupancy by June 30 to comply with the Tax Rebate law.
While we were in Sedona, I caught a really bad cold, and it was all I stayed at the hotel for a couple of days. Linda was still able to visit her friends, etc. When we left Sedona, all I wanted to do was to get home. I could only drive as far as Fort Stockton. In Fort Stockton, Linda started getting sick, and I drove her home, and then I went home to my house in Spring. I was really sick for several days and yet I needed to be cleaning out and packing. It was becoming very over-whelming. It had been 3 weeks since the first time I toured The Towers, I had been on a 10 day vacation to Tucson and Sedona and had been home a few nights between the initial look and the Sedona trip. Everything was CRAZY! I am sure some people thought I was crazy and doing all of this so fast, and I was, but, it was something I had considered, like I said, since November 2008 when I was pre-planning my retirement.
I started going through stacks of papers, and was developing a system, of paper to throw away and paper to have shredded professionally. I found a company that would shred for me for free, so I was making tons of boxes of shred. Remember, I am cleaning out papers for a family that went back to 1968, plus some papers that were from my parents. When Rod moved out, he took himself and his clothes, and that was about it...I got/was stuck with, everything else. And someone (ME) had to look at every single piece of paper before it was thrown away, just in case. AND I WAS SICK! And, we were leaving for Disney World in 2 weeks and would be gone for 2 weeks. I would have on 13 nights in Spring before I left to go to San Antonio for my closing on June 24. Thank God for Diane and Robert. And even Freddy Patrick who came over with Robert on June 22 and loaded up an entire truck of furniture and other items to donate to NAM. I was able to leave Spring, and they left with my Realtors truck loaded to the top at the same time. I actually got to San Antonio hours before they were finished with everything they did, including the returning of the truck.
Closing was at hmmm, I can't remember what time closing was, I think 10 in the morning sounds really familiar. I closed, brought my suit case and my "chair" up to my unit. I was set! I could sit in my chair and look out my balcony. We can borrow "for free" pretty nice roll-away beds, similar to a Murphy bed, and the valet brought it up to my unit. A few minutes later, housekeeping came and put sheets, etc on the bed for me. Wow, I was already being pampered!
Next, Diane said, if I would go buy paint, she and Will would paint the apartment for me Friday and Saturday. So, I found Sherwin Williams, bought 3 gallons of paint I think and when I returned, I pulled up in front of the building, and a Valet came out and said something like do you have something for a resident....I said, I live here! OH....they asked, are you Mrs. Munoz, and I said yes. They already knew my name. They unloaded my van...thinking back, maybe that is when my stuff got up here.
That evening Diane, Will and the kids came for dinner. We had 5:45 PM reservations in the Gardenia Room. It was my first time to really see the menu and especially the liquor prices! It was so funny. It was hard to order. A glass of wine was $1.45 or $6.05 for the whole bottle. Will thought I should just order the whole bottle. A beer was $1.15. Ice Cream for dessert was $0.40. Coffee and Tea were free and soft drinks were $0.50. We finally ordered our dinner. The portions were small, but now I know if I am really hungry, get an extra side. After dinner, they went home, and I came upstairs. I had a bed, a chair, a computer...that was about it.
I was getting a new TV, thinking I would wait until 4th of July weekend. Will got off early on Friday, I had taken the kids out and about...I had to do a Whataburger Shop that day for lunch, and the Whataburger was really far away, but it kept us busy. After we ate, the kids wanted to come back to my apt. Abby wanted to help paint. We came back here, then Matthew and I left to go look at TVs. I could not find the Best Buy...maybe my GPS was nuts. I finally went to Costco, I knew where it was. I bought a Sony Versa flat screen. Costco loaded it into the truck, once again, I came home with it, and a Valet met us at the loading dock, and he and Matthew got the TV out and on a luggage cart. I parked the car and came upstairs. DARN...no cable wire for the TV. We sent Will to go get a cable wire and then he comes back and we set up the TV. BEAUTIFUL picture!! and SOUND!! Now I am in business. The kids and I had McDonald's that night for dinner. We ate in the van and had to drive through the McDonald's 3 times, in order to fill Matthew up. He had just recently started eating a lot. That was about when it started.
I had breakfast at The Towers on Saturday morning and then drove back to Spring. I now know that the lady who would end up buying my house in Spring, lost her husband that very day. I had measured all of my furniture...I knew what I was taking and what I was donating (most of it had been donated at that point). I had stacks of boxes that were completely packed up, and I was as ready as I was going to be for my movers. The moving company had called me on Thursday morning to confirm the move on Monday, the time, etc. I had told them that I needed to be sure my movers were on time, because we had to be finished by 6 PM per the rules of the building. My movers arrived on Monday morning at 7:30 AM....I was shocked. I was still sleeping. I jumped up, got dressed and they got with it. They were finished at the house by 10:30 and we were all here at the apartment by 2:30...actually just before 2:30. It's strange...Diane was here, and I guess the kids were here, I don't remember them being here. She may have brought them and passed them off to Will or something like that. It was harder to unload than load (unusual), because of using a Freight elevator and it is located at the opposite end of the hall from my unit. But we got finished just before 6 PM, and of course, the movers still had to drive back to Houston. The move was $1550 with tip which is almost exactly what I had planned. I thought that was a very fair price.
I stayed in San Antonio from June 28 until Thursday July 8. I wanted to be here for July 4th. On Tuesday, July the 5th was the meet your new neighbor coffee and I of course was honored, and met lots of people. It was a little overwhelming. Little did I know that Tuesdays would soon become named "Rooty Tooty, Terrific Tuesday at The Towers" for me. After the coffee, I came upstairs, then went down for lunch, then over to Mexican Train, then up to my unit, changed clothes, then up to the club for drinks and Farkle in the Club! After Farkle I was invited to go to dinner with new friends. I was officially HERE! Wednesday, I unpacked 5 boxes and then on Thursday I headed back to Spring. I no longer had a bed, but I had a recliner I could sleep in and a small TV I could watch in the evenings. I now had to finish cleaning out all of the JUNK. I spent a couple days, just really depressed and so overwhelmed. I did not know what to do. Diane was busy with her kids in San Antonio. Robert was busy doing stuff...the girls were now with their Mother. After a few days, Robert called and he came over helped me pack. He made me! He cleaned out the garage, he loaded my van up a couple of times to the brim with more donations. After donating almost everything, Sharon said she could help me with a garage sale. I did sign up with a Realtor in July, but basically told them to hold off on showing the house because it was still such a wreck. It was really hot outside (July in Houston), and I was really in no hurry. I had a garage sale in mid August and finally cleaned all the rest of the junk away just after Labor Day. After Sept 10 or so, the house was ready to show and have pictures taken, etc. I did tell my Realtor that no one would probably look at it until the middle of October or later, honestly possibly mid November, because it was just too hot and the person what would buy the house would be someone like me.
Little did I know, that the person would literally be someone like me...as in almost exactly my age, etc. Well, I got a contract on the house on November 27 (and had heard about it the Monday before Thanksgiving). I closed on the sale of the house on December 27! Happy New Year!
Oh...so we never get hurricane's in San Antonio (I thought), and right off the bat we had a Tropical Storm come through in early September. There was so rain blowing in some of the windows in our building....I had no worries.....the janitors, custodians, housekeeping and valets were all busy taking care of those issues. We have a massive generator, so when th electricity went out around 1 PM, we still had one elevator working, lights in all the halls, and public areas, etc. The only thing that changed was instead of Happy Hour being at 5:00, it was at 4:00! It was full of so many people, management said, we should have storms more often!
About a week later, I was looking out at the horizon towards the north and I thought, the clouds look just like mountains, they really did. As a matter of fact multiple people had made the same comment. The more I looked, the more I wanted to go see a mountain. I actually came to that conclusion on a Sunday and called and told Diane I thought I might go for a ride to Colorado Springs! So, Wednesday morning (after my terrific Tuesday), I got up and drove to Amarillo. I went a new way and tried to drive on roads I had never been on, I like to do that. Thursday afternoon, I arrived in Colorado Springs, and I was there just in time for the fall leaves. I didn't do anything in particular, went to the Air Force Academy, drove partially up Pikes Peak, went to Cripple Creek, such a pretty drive, and over to the Garden of the Gods. I ate a couple of good meals, the rest I just ate mostly at the Drury Inn with their free breakfasts, happy hour, and "heavy" snacks, like baked potatoes, chicken strips, salad, hot dogs, etc. I had just finished at my house and it was my treat to me!
We had a good Thanksgiving! Robert and his girls came and we all ate dinner here on Tuesday night at The Towers. After dinner, once again, we all went swimming and hot tubbing...including me this time and the kids had so much fun. There is just something about swimming in a really large pool in the November...it is heated nicely! Ray came in to town on Wednesday evening and they were all at Diane's house, and on Thursday morning I made my way over there too! Diane did a great job on making all of the food the day before and Robert made the Pea Salad. My job was to buy the sliced turkey breast and gravy. Everything was really good and was ready at exactly the same time. We were on a schedule as Robert and Ray had to leave at 1:00 PM to go to Austin for the UT/TX A&M game. The girls stayed at Diane's house. The guys had great tickets through Ray's aunt and they went to the game, pre-game festivities, and spent the night in Austin.
Diane had to work on Black Friday, so she and Will got up at 2 or so and went shopping. I was there spending the night so I could take care of all 4 of the kids. They had done a lot of shopping by 8 AM when she had to be at work. Will kept shopping from the list that was supplied by Diane. He came home and took a nap too.
Robert got back to Diane's around 3 on Friday (just after Diane got home from work), and he decided that he and the girls would go on back to Pearland, so they could put up the Christmas tree, etc on Saturday, rest on Sunday and be ready for their week. That made a lot of sense.
Diane was not DONE yet, so they went shopping some more until 9 or so after Robert left. She was very pleased with herself. She had completed almost all of her shopping in that one day and had gotten so many really good deals, including FREE stuff!
I ended up staying at Diane's and not coming home until possibly Monday. So that was my little out of towner for Thanksgiving.
Christmas was real nice too! I was invited to Diane's house and got there while they were at a 5:00 PM Christmas Church service...she had a roast in the crock pot and the house smelled soooo good! The table was all set and ready to go, so there was nothing for me to do but sit and enjoy her beautiful Christmas decorations!
They got home, we had a nice dinner and a fairly peaceful evening. We took their family Christmas picture that night, instead of Christmas morning. The kids went to bed and we did too a little while later. Santa came and everything was great!
Christmas morning they all came downstairs, Abby came running in my room announcing that Santa had come and I needed to get up....it was possibly close to 9 or so. They all had a bowl of cereal, or instant drink, and soon we were all opening presents. We take turns and watch each other. Everyone got what they wanted, and after presents we had a big Christmas breakfast close to noon or so. We don't do a Christmas dinner, we instead eat party food...spinach dip in the bread bowl, ranch dip with veggies, cheese, crackers, jalapeño jelly, summer sausage, Mimosas, etc. The kids had more roast, etc, so we were all happy. We watched movies, Despicable Me and The Blind Side. Matthew played with his new PS 3 for hours and hours, we all had a good time!
A couple of days later....it was New Year's Eve! I went to the grocery store....yes, I know, I never do that, but I did. I had all kinds of food here and I just stayed home, by myself and watched New Year's all over the country and ate my food. At Midnight, I walked out on my balcony and the fireworks all across the horizon were amazing. I liked the 4th of July, but this was different, because of course, they were all going off at the same time, and not just at random times through out the evening like on the 4th.
Of course, on New Year's Day...we had been waiting for it all Football Season, we were all tuned in to the Rose Bowl with TCU! I of course, still had my food, so it was really fun. I had carrots and dip, Homemade jalapeño hamburger that I cooked on my new Cuisinart Grill/Panini maker...it was so incredibly good, wish I had one right now. I also made fresh guacamole with chips, it was my own little party. The temperature in San Antonio and Pasadena CA was identical. I opened my balcony door, and with the breeze, it felt like I was outside/there! As it got dark and got cold here and there, I pulled out my down stadium blanket and kept the door opened. I had my TV turned on really loud, my neighbors can't hear it, and I had a really good time....especially since TCU won!
The following Friday (my birthday eve), my best friend Linda came for her first visit as she has been out of town/out of the country almost all of the time since I moved here. We went upstairs for Happy Hour and Farkle in the Club. One of the men who lives here was celebrating his 92 birthday on January 6, so he had Happy Hour catered from our catering dept and it was really good...tiny little egg rolls, fried chicken wings, spinach baklava, and beautiful miniature pastries plus all the drinks were on him. It was really good, very nice and there were a lot of people. Normally, I would have just had a few extra snacks, and skipped dinner, but I wanted Linda to go to the dining room. So, after Happy Hour, we went to the Dining Room, had wine, I had Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi, Tossed salad, and she had grilled chicken breast with the fruit salad plate (peaches and cottage cheese, etc) and we both had some other side, but I don't remember what we had. We also had the black cherry frozen yogurt which is so popular here along with Decaf coffee. I wanted to her get to enjoy our dining room.
After dinner, we did go down around 9:30 or so to enjoy the pool. She loved it. The hot tub was really hot!
Saturday we met Diane and the kids for lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and then went back to Diane's house until 7:30 or so...due to the time of night I chose a little joint called Good Time Charlie's for onion rings, fried mushrooms, fried zucchini, and chopped steaks with fries....got in my fried quota for the year! Then we just came home.
Sunday, Linda was leaving to go back to College Station. We decided on Brunch in the Gardenia Room here. I had a Vegetable Omelet with Tomato, mushrooms, and onions, crispy bacon, English muffin and Linda had Eggs Benedict and we both had coffee. They serve miniature Danishes and muffins for the "bread" before breakfast! We ate with one of the ladies here in the building. We saw so many people and everyone was coming over to speak and meet Linda or just say it is so good to see you again. We received a couple of invitations for the next week, but she was leaving. People just being really nice to my friend. That made me really happy!
I will be here, at home, until February 25th when I head to Pearland to help out Robert and see Madison for her birthday! That will complete my first year and one week of retirement.
I must say, when I started this year, I thought I wanted to travel all of the time and stay in hotels all of the time. What I figured out, is one of the main things I like about traveling, is staying in hotels and eating out. I no longer have the desire to be gone for months at a time, because I get to live in a 5 star hotel, with a beautiful restaurant, room service, valet parking, maid service, and no worries at all. I can come and go as I please, not worry about my security (safety and personal security like medical security), participate in as many activities as I want...which are run by the residents, not some "kid" we hired to lead us in doing something, etc. Without even trying I do a minimum of 5 things a week, and that does not include joining people (men, women, couples, etc) for meals, or even just a cup of coffee downstairs. I am so happy to be here and it is literally one of the best decisions I have ever made. I also know that when my time comes, it is going to be so much easier for my kids to clean out a one bedroom apartment, that a whole entire house full of 60 years worth of stuff!
When I started this, I had no intention of writing a book! I thought I would just BLOG something...ha! It did take m quite a while to write, so I understand if it takes you quite a while to read...if you ever read it. Who knows, there may be no one who has time. As for me, that is one thing I have plenty of...of course, if I don't hurry up with this, I won't have time to get ready for Social Hour and Farkle. As they say here at The Towers...."You Can't Sparkle, if You Don't Farkle"!
