Zero Months to Retirement, or: Midnight Wake Ups + Gratitude

This past weekend, we celebrated our retirement surrounded by family and friends.

Just writing that sentence gives my heart the flutters.

On Friday, Ryan’s company threw him a lovely luncheon in the same room where we’ve been meeting with our ChooseFI group these past few months. There were pictures of our travels on all of the tables, games about how well everyone knew Ryan, and his boss (and friend) even sang an IT-centric version of “That’s what friends are for.”

It was perfect.

Guess which one is Ryan.

The next day, friends and family gathered at a local brewery to hang out and celebrate with us. I had so much fun and stayed so busy bopping around to all of these people from all different parts of our lives- that I took zero pictures.

I felt so loved. And so, so grateful.

Because of the whirlwind nature of the weekend (Ryan drove straight to the airport after his work party to pick up his family) there wasn’t really a moment to sit with what was happening in any kind of grounded way.

So, when I woke up at midnight after the party at the brewery, my body finally caught up with the reality of what we had just done. And what I felt?

Overwhelming, frozen… fear.

Paradox is an interesting, very true thing. This thing- retirement- that I’ve been thinking about, planning for and learning about for 7+ years is incredibly exciting AND it turns out to be pretty scary. Both can be true.

I didn’t expect this.

As I lay awake in bed, fear coursing through me, my first thought was:

“What in the actual hell?”

And then:

“Ah. Yeah. That makes sense.”

We are taking all of the pieces of our life, shaking them around and creating something new. The unknown is incredibly exciting. It is also scary.

So there we are.

Maya shows us how to hide under the bed when we’re feeling scared.

The Plan for this Month

June was always going to be the month of packing up, selling Ryan’s car and saying our last goodbyes to folks in Charlotte. Our townhouse is now filled with giant rubbermaid bins and piles to go to Goodwill.

Maya is freaking out. :)

Financially speaking, we are working on rolling our retirement accounts over to Vanguard so that when the dust settles with final paychecks, we can move through our quarterly reallocation. I’m excited to get to the point where our portfolio will be more simplified with fewer accounts all in one place.

Ryan’s first pension check should hit our account later this month, and we are thinking we will just pull from our cash account for the rest of this year. For tax purposes, this seems to make the most sense as 2026 will be our last year earning a high income. But who knows!

Outside of finances, Ryan is thinking about when/where to fly his daughter out to see us, and I’m planning mid-travel trips to Florida to visit my friend and her new baby, and hopefully a girl’s trip in New England in the fall.

What’s Next

We will hit the road with a full U-Haul at the end of this month to drive to TN. We’ll spend a couple of weeks with my family there, gain residency, register to vote and figure out how/if to celebrate our struggling country’s 250th anniversary. (If you have any ideas on this front, let me know. Ugh.)

I’m also thinking of sharing monthly budgets once we start traveling in earnest. Let me know in the comments below if there are other slow travel or finance-related things you’d like me to share in the monthly updates.

Onward into the unknown!