Meet Sue from Essex

I was lucky enough to retire aged 60 and have never looked back.  It is a whole new wonderful world. 

I have always had admin jobs and the last 19 years of work I spent in an NHS Outpatient Clinic.  The job became more difficult with endless amounts of red tape and never being able to keep up with the demand for appointments.  I knew it was time to step away from the constant one step forward, two steps back. 

I have been married to Eddie for 42 years and 5 years ago we moved to a completely new area, which was quite daunting.  I have a large family of 3 sons and from them I have 11 grandchildren.  The 6 boys and 5 girls range from aged 20 down to 9 months. 

Family get togethers are chaotic and loud.  They are my absolute world and play a big part in keeping me busy.  Spending time with them and seeing them grow is such a joy.  I do school pick-ups for 3 of them and because of my son’s shift pattern it isn’t every day so it still leaves me plenty of free time.     

Since retiring I have found a few new hobbies, some of which I was not expecting.  The most surprising was a love for playing golf against my husband on our PlayStation. We have such a giggle and it’s fun to do when the weather is miserable.  

My second new hobby is gardening.  My husband does dread when I say I have a new idea but he has made me some great planters and it allows me to look after the plants without needing to constantly kneel down.  I never expected I would be so into the garden and I spend every chance tending to the plants while also watching the many birds who come to visit. My favourite flowers are roses and dahlias.  We have a special memory rose to our parents and this year I have managed to successfully grow dahlias from bulbs, something my dad did every year.   

I do love a spreadsheet and I use them regularly for many things.  They are a good way for me to keep my mind ticking over.  The main one I use is for our family tree I have been researching.  I have an online tree but it’s very large so have a spreadsheet with a tab for each generation, concentrating on the grandparents and the children they have.  It has been very interesting finding out where our ancestors lived before ending up in East London where both mine and Eddie’s parents were born.      

One of the best parts of retirement is being able to have fewer things to stop you doing the things you want.  Apart from doing the school pick ups when needed, and weekly shopping every Monday, the rest of the time is ours to spend how we like. 

I like having a little bit of routine but being able to plan my day around the weather or what I feel like is so good.  You don’t need to spend lots of money going out either.  A walk along a sea front or in a country park and being around nature is so refreshing and invigorating.

My advice to anyone worried about retirement is embrace it.  After many years of work it is time to enjoy the latter years of your life without the demands of commuting and deadlines, etc. 

Money might be tighter for most and the important part is being able to cover your essential bills.  Everything else is a choice plus you don’t need to worry about booking annual leave so you can have a holiday, a weekend away, a special day out or just some chill time – you can do these things when you want to.  You have earned it.                 

Rentasenior would like to thank Sue for her account of her retirement from her 60th birthday with her husband Eddie and all those grandchildren.

If you have a story to tell and would like it published on this blog, please reach out and send us a message to info@rentasenior.co.uk

Rentasenior is a UK online portal for seniors aged 50 years or over, who through the portal, can  offer their skills and expertise to their local and wider community.