10 Years with TRS.

Have I ever told the story of how I graduated from college on a Wednesday night and went to work bright and early the very next morning? Well, on December 19, 2001, I graduated from college. On the morning of Thursday, December 20, 2001, I reported for duty at my very first real job that was going to earn me real money. [You know, as opposed to the fake money that I had been earning at part-time jobs since the age of 15.] The end.

Why did I start working the very next day after graduation as opposed to setting off on some post-graduation European backpacking adventure? Primarily because all of my friends had been working for 6 months already or still had 6 months of school left so I was making my grand entrance into the "real world" a bit tardy or prematurely, I suppose. The other reason was because I worked for all of two days and then had two weeks PTO for the holidays. Pretty sweet gig because I never had to worry about things like gaps in insurance coverage or income or those other things that are completely incomprehensible until faced with the dead end that is inevitable along the road of college life freedom.

Also on that day a decade ago, a clock started ticking toward my retirement earnings. At the green age of 22, retirement was the absolute farthest thing from my mind. I learned that it would take TEN! WHOLE! YEARS! of working within the University System before I would even be vested in retirement. My plan certainly did not include me working for 10 years. I would surely be busy with things like car pool and cookie baking and lounging on the sofa watching daytime television by the time I reached the ancient old age of 30.

Oh I just love these subtle reminders that my plans are not always written in stone. Just as I never predicted the end of daytime soap operas (Ha!), I certainly never predicted that I would be vested in retirement. But I am. While I am thankful for this unplanned accomplishment now, I am sure that I will be even more thankful in my 50s when my future children continue to suck the life out of my bank account.

Unplanned accomplishments. Anybody else out there have them? I'm sure we all do. It's just a matter of recognizing them instead of focusing on all the other things that we planned on yet haven't quite completed. Glass half full, or half empty? The choice lies within each of us.

With endings like that, I think I have a future in retirement options with the DaySpring or Hallmark corporations.