Venicio, while condolences are in order, so might be congratulations. I’m sure being laid-off after thirty years of commitment and service feels like (and is in my opinion) a form of betrayal. And I’m sure you both feel unmoored and mournful. But if you both are in fact financially fine,, I suspect that given time you will look back at this unsettling event as an unintended but ultimately fortuitous gift (i.e being able to fully share your retirement together, sooner rather than later). Major marriage altering events such as yours bring to mind the last lines of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. As you may recall, having been “laid off" by the boss, Adam and Eve are forced to retire from Eden. I’ll leave you in the hands of Milton:Some natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon; The World was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
On this very day some 174 years ago Thoreau pondered a related question:
"I wished for leisure and quiet to let my life flow in its proper channels, with its proper currents; when I might not waste the days, might establish daily prayer and thanksgiving in my family; might do my own work and not the work of Concord and Carlisle, which would yield me better than money."
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Venicio, while condolences are in order, so might be congratulations. I’m sure being laid-off after thirty years of commitment and service feels like (and is in my opinion) a form of betrayal. And I’m sure you both feel unmoored and mournful. But if you both are in fact financially fine,, I suspect that given time you will look back at this unsettling event as an unintended but ultimately fortuitous gift (i.e being able to fully share your retirement together, sooner rather than later). Major marriage altering events such as yours bring to mind the last lines of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. As you may recall, having been “laid off" by the boss, Adam and Eve are forced to retire from Eden. I’ll leave you in the hands of Milton: Some natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon; The World was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
Post: Laid Off
Link to comment from February 8, 2026
On this very day some 174 years ago Thoreau pondered a related question:
"I wished for leisure and quiet to let my life flow in its proper channels, with its proper currents; when I might not waste the days, might establish daily prayer and thanksgiving in my family; might do my own work and not the work of Concord and Carlisle, which would yield me better than money."
—Journal, December 12, 1851
Post: What’s Your Perfect “Normal” Day?
Link to comment from December 12, 2025
The essayist Joseph Epstein wrote that at a certain age "Hypochondria is the better part of valor"
Post: No, I did not have a heart attack, but I surely got a lot of tests
Link to comment from August 30, 2025
Not saving and investing until my mid-thirties. Not actively educating myself about retirement until retirement was thrust upon me.
Post: What’s your biggest financial regret?
Link to comment from April 13, 2024