Life After Retirement by Ken Cutler

It’s now been 18 months since I retired from my primary career as an electrical engineer. In a previous post, I talked about financial moves I’ve made since retiring. What other changes in my life have occurred since retiring from full-time work? Here are a few:

Parks and Recreation.  For over three decades, my opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Pennsylvania autumn season was limited. As an engineer at a nuclear power plant, I was required to support refueling outages every two years for each reactor. Since we had two reactors at my site, one reactor was shut down each year. Because the replacement cost of electricity is lower in the fall than summer, these outages were scheduled in September or October. Typically, I would have to work 60 or 70-hour weeks during an outage. Life outside of work had to be pared down to the bare essentials.

My outage days are behind me. Although I’m still working part-time in the industry, I have no interest in working crazy hours or night shifts. I’m now able to enjoy the fall.

Lancaster County Central Park is only a few miles from my house. It’s a large park, covering 544 acres. That’s almost two-thirds the size of Central Park in New York City. Last September and October, one of my favorite activities was exploring the nooks and crannies of this park while enjoying an almost unprecedented string of sunny, beautiful autumn days.  There are several other parks and nature preserves within a three-mile radius of my home.

I recently read the book Successful Aging by Daniel Levitin. A key takeaway for me is that walking in nature is one of the very best things you can do for your aging brain and body. I’m blessed to have so many varied terrains so close by to choose from. It’s good to know that the novelty of walking on a crooked path is helping to keep my brain young.

Retiree Work. I’ve found post-retirement employment has an entirely different flavor than work in my primary career. The layer of stress I used to experience as a result of being responsible for the outcome of a complex project is completely gone. Instead, I can simply focus on the work assigned to me, with a goal of making life easier for my overburdened clients. The expressions of gratitude I’ve received for my efforts mean a lot to me. Another benefit of this work life phase is that I can and do turn down assignments that I judge not to be a good fit.

I’ve never experienced or observed age discrimination in my industry. In fact, many of my retired colleagues are being lured back into post-retirement employment as the electric power industry strains under numerous demands. We live in interesting times.

Volunteering with Kids. I’ve always enjoyed children. One of my former bosses recruited me to help out with a school program—Club for short—held at his church Thursday mornings during the school year. There was a need for more male volunteers. Quickly, I got drafted to be one of the bus riders, making two round trips between the church and the local public elementary school each Thursday.

The old yellow bus is packed with around 50 students in grades three through five. These kids have their parents’ permission to be released from class to come to the church for a lively Bible program. The kids are happy about their weekly escape from school, but that bus can sure get loud with their raucous singing and so forth. My Apple watch often flashes loud noise warnings as my ears approach the threshold of pain.

One of the boys I work with has selective mutism and may be autistic. He will talk a bit with other kids, but not to me or any other adult—with the exception of his family. He’s quite sharp, though. When I give him a pencil and paper, his strong memory is evident. He’s indicated he likes math, so that’s something I bring up from time to time. When I recently asked him about his math class, he wrote out a long multiplication problem and started solving it.

He seemed to be having a good time at the program, but I couldn’t know for sure what he was thinking. Last week as I was dropping off the kids at their school cafeteria, a lady came up and started talking to me about this young man. I realized it was his mother. She works in the cafeteria and her son must have described me to her. She told me how he goes on and on at home talking about what he’s learning at Club. I was a little stunned to hear that. Learning from his mom how much he enjoys Club made my day. I was planning on not returning as a volunteer next year, but after that encounter I may be back.