Some summer

Last night, I had the opportunity to connect with a group of people with whom I used to spend a lot of time. 

I danced with them before I joined the studio, and I had also joined with them for periodic spiritual gatherings.

It had been many years since the last time I attended one of the gatherings, but last night, I stepped back into that Circle.

It was nice to reconnect, and to feel that I was welcomed as a part of that community, even though they are all close-knit friends, and I am a bit of an outsider.

Perhaps, if I can continue to attend, I will not feel that outsided-ness as much.  (I just made up a new word!)

My younger friend, Lori, was supposed to go with me, but she backed out at the last minute, after a rough week at work.

This past week, Dave had a couple of different lawn services come and give quotes.  One for the big back yard clean up job, and one for mowing.

One guy quoted an exorbitantly high number for the clean up, but was reasonable on the bi-weekly mowing for the summer.

The other guy was SUPER reasonable on the clean up..... so we hired the first guy to mow, and the second guy to do the clean up.

The bi-weekly mowing will start this week some time.

The clean up will happen the week of our monthly "bulky trash" pick up.  All he'll have to do is drag everything to the curb.

In other news, Pete has been doing great, as he usually does, since his latest injection.

It's gotten hot and uncomfortable here, right on schedule, so my cabin fever season has begun.  It's not even as bad as it usually is by this date, but it's bad enough to keep me from doing much of anything at all outside.

Because of all of the rain we had this spring, the humidity has been tropical.  

On Friday, I got a call from the woman I had spoken to the week before about retiring.  

She was able to confirm that I DO qualify for the annual contribution to my retirement, as long as I am still employed through tomorrow, which is June 30th, the end of the fiscal year.

I do NOT have to still be employed whenever they decide to release those funds.

There is a chance that the last day of July will be my exit date from work.  That way, even if the roll over (into an IRA that will start paying me) doesn't take place until mid August, I will still have a paycheck coming.

At this point, I'm ALSO considering moving my account entirely over to Dave's guy.... since he's with Fidelity, and my guy is private.  

This would include moving the account I have with my fiduciary over to Dave's guy at Fidelity as well.

It kind of makes sense to be with a big, secure company for both of us, and to have one advisor, instead of two.

We shall see.

Anyway, I'll also need to go back on the Social Security website and get that set up to start paying me, too.

It's scary, but I finally think we will be okay.  I will just need to figure out how to keep from going insane, since I am not good at being idle.

I need to figure out what it means to me to be able to just live my life.  

This coming week is my next treatment.  My next heart ultrasound and chest CT are scheduled for July 16th.  

They should have been in June, but no appointments were available.

Today, I am doing some cooking, and I have a baby basil plant that I need to get into the ground before it gets too hot out.

Have a lovely week, and a happy Independence Day, if you celebrate it.