Hooray for the inaugural celebration of StG Day! You’ll get to celebrate that first day of freedom every year going forward.
Congrats!!!
I’ve been retired for two months; my birthday was a couple of days ago, and my son gave me these:
I think I was about 50 when I had an epiphany:
Q: What do I want to be when I grow up?
A: Retired.
Thanks, guys! I’m ready to take a couple months off to just chill. I have some ideas for volunteerism opportunities. I already do rescue transports. but will be able to do the mid-week ones now. I might volunteer at the library to teach Excel, or just sort books for the library bookstore. But first I want to get good and bored for a while.
StG
A snowy day will start to be beautiful now that you don’t have to drive in it.
36 years is indeed a long time to deliver newspapers! Hope you had a good bike, like a Schwinn, with a large basket! 
Anyway, congrats! Welcome to the life of leisure, filled with unlimited hookers and blow hobbies and crafts.
Good on you, @StGermain, enjoy the lack of alarm.
That’s right; I hadn’t realized. Tomorrow is StG’s Big Day. The first Monday with Nothing going on. Starting with the glory that is a non-alarm wakeup whenever. May it be a magical Monday; the first of well over a thousand you’ll enjoy.
My work life has lots of alarm-clock wakeups, but has never been connected to the typical Mon-Fri work cycle. Of the many things I’ll miss out on in retirement vs “ordinary” folks, marveling at alarmless Mondays will be one of them. Oh well.
I’ve been trying to think of something “fun” to do, now that time isn’t an issue. And what I’ve learned about myself is I’ve forgotten how to have fun. There are things I enjoy, like reading or working in my beehives. Things I do because I feel it’s worthwhile, like pet rescue transports. But not much fun. I’m not a beach-goer or drinker or club person. I don’t enjoy sports, either to watch or participate in.I certainly have things that need doing around the house and farm. I stopped riding lessons a year and a half ago - I could find another lesson program. Anyway, I guess I need a new hobby.
StG
You don’t need a damn thing until after a couple of months of decompression.
Our former Pension Administrator called R Day “MLK Day” as in “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at last”.
I used a similar speech when I left USAF for civilian life.
I had another countdown to retirement event today. In winter we wear the uniform suit jacket with stripes, badges, & such. In summer we don’t; the jacket stays home and we go with just the white shirt, tie, and various badges & such.
Today I came home & took the jacket off for the last time. I’ll retire before it’s far enough into Fall to need it again. Debating just pitching it or paying $10 or whatever to have it dry-cleaned as usual then pitch it when I’m truly retired.
Find that 5 year old who was visiting in your cock pit and give it to them~fantasy dress up costume par excellence!
I don’t think they do that any more. But I could be wrong.
Can’t do it. Has to be destroyed to keep it out of the hands of wannabe imposter grown-ups.
Sighing….sadly that makes sense. It was a fun thought while it lasted.
Could you give it to a colleague with a few years left?
I have to stop “counting down”, because although I look forward to retirement, I’m still experiencing anxiety, and the counting is triggering me.
Like:
Eight round-trip commutes left
Eight more applications of makeup (I plan to stash all the warpaint forever after my last day)
Sixteen more times to use my building badge to enter/exit the building parking garage
Eight more times to pack my beat-up insulated lunch/snack bag
Three more workouts in the free building gym
Zero more times to change my computer password, because I just did so yesterday
Stop it, teela.
Congratulations!! 
It sounds like you have a great game plan in place that will make your retirement a healthy and happy one!
Maybe turn it around: Only 8 more days to Freedom! Only 7 more days to Freedom! 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast-off on a new and much more fun life!! IOW, focus on what you’re gaining, not what you’re losing.
I’ve got 4+ months left and even though I’m solidly looking forward to life after with no real worries about it, I’m also feeling the countdown in a mostly negative light, focusing mostly on what I’m giving up forever, not as much on what I’m gaining. One is quite tangible the other seems sorta nebulous. I’ve had weekends off, vacations, and breaks between jobs before, so that part of the future somehow doesn’t seem all that novel.
Human nature be weird. This isn’t easy; or at least it isn’t simple.