In which I introduce myself

Hello, Grosse Ile et al.! This is my first blog post and I find myself feeling quite nervous. Not about finding things to say, really.That has not ever been the problem. No, it's more a question of hubris. It seems to me to be a bit cheeky to think that anyone would be interested. Perhaps that will indeed turn out to be so. Just in case, however, I will take a shot at it. I am planning to share my thoughts and experiences about transitioning to retirement, reinventing myself at 60 and learning to live a less rigidly structured life -- Island Time.

My name is Toni Mann. My husband, Doug, and I have lived on Grosse Ile -- or is that in Grosse Ile? -- since March 30, 1985. Because our son was born on March 31, 1986, I often say "Eddie plus one" when asked. (The aforementioned Eddie has been known to roll his eyes when he hears this. Well, tough. The older I get, the more I see the value of any little memory trick I can devise.) Of those now 25 years, I have been employed full time for 23 and commuted at various times to Dearborn, to downtown Detroit and to Southfield. My favorite drive, however, was to the AutoAlliance plant in Flat Rock, a mere 4 or 5 miles. That was truly a dream of a drive, and I was sorry when that assignment ended after 4 and a half years. The change to Southfield was quite a shock. Suddenly I was leaving in the dark and getting home in the dark during more of the year than I cared for.

When Doug decided to retire in January 2007, I was envious. The plan in place assumed that I would continue to work until I was 62, another nearly 4 years. Those months stretched long ahead of me. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel for a challenging and interesting project and was casting around for what my next assignment might be. The more I looked, the more clear it was to me that there wasn't anything as appealing readily available. The most likely scenario was that I would work to retirement in the job I was in, but in a maintenance mode rather than a redesign. That, combined with the long commute, was a bit of a dismaying prospect. I called the financial planner and asked her to rerun the numbers for age 60. And then, after a particularly bad day, I asked her to look again, assuming I retired immediately. The numbers kept coming out in support of the earlier retirement. I gave my employer 6 months notice, since I knew it might be difficult to fill my position, and I retired effective July 1, 2008.

Since then, I have been indulging myself in a number of ways difficult to do when I had a full-time job with a long commute. These include cycling (love it!), running (not so much, although the events are fun), strength training (who knew there were actually muscles hiding there in my arms and legs?), church-related work (a black hole, it seems, that requires the volunteer to figure out where and how to draw the line), and community theater (2 appearances onstage, plus a foray into producing). The one goal I had for my retirement that has remained unaddressed is that of spending more time on my writing. This blog is an attempt to correct that omission. In the meantime, I can say in all honesty that I have not used an alarm clock more than a handful of times in the last two years. Busy as I am, I am living life on Island time, and it is sweet!