I slid into retirement in November 2021 at age 58. I enjoyed my career as a Nurse Practitioner and did not see myself retiring until I was aged 68-70. After being widowed for almost 10 years, God gave me the most fantastic gift of another “love of my life.” Wayne and I married in July of 2021. Wayne was already retired, and that got me thinking about retirement. After a vacation where I was tied to a work phone due to being on call, I decided life was way too short to spend it stressed and disconnected from my new husband. I came home and put in my notice the next work day. I never looked back.
List of things about me:
- I was born in Alabama, where my dad was from.
- My growing-up years were spent in the South, mainly in East Texas.
- I have always saved 6% and given the church at least 10% of my income.
- My parents taught me how to budget and save from the time I received my first allowance.
- I have always been a night owl.
- I met the first love of my life while working the night shift at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
- I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Baylor University when I was 30 years old.
- I only wanted to be a Nurse because it would provide me with a good income, but I fell in love with the profession and would have worked without pay.
- I completed my Masters’s in Nursing 20 years after getting my Bachelor’s degree at age 50.
- After graduating with my Masters’s in Nursing, I began working as a Nurse Practitioner in Hospice.
- I always felt I could make a difference in many lives while caring for those dying and their families.
- My only daughter and her husband have one cute, sweet, intelligent little girl.
- My only granddaughter is the first grandbaby and great-grandbaby on both sides of the family–no, she is not spoiled.
- The second “love of my life” and I attended church together for over 20 years.
- We began dating in mid-April and were married in mid-July.
- We enjoy taking mission trips and vacations together.
- Our favorite vacations are beach vacations, where we collect shells.