Okay.  I just sent my proposed (independent contractor) word processing agreement to my current employer.  I have worked for them (except for a 3 month break) for the last 26 years. 

It will be the first time I have been without a “regular” employer since I turned 18.

To say I’m feeling a little freaked is a vast understatement. 

I just don’t think I’m ready to fully retire. 

Despite working with attorneys, I actually enjoy my work.  I even like some (even most) of the attorneys I work with. 

I am also keeping my side gig with another law firm; which just absorbed another attorney from my main employer – so it’s not really like working for another law firm – I’m mostly working with all the same lawyers – just some are now at a different e-mail address.

I think that once we are settled in Michigan and all the “excitement” of having Terri back in the “hood” (okay, the neighborhood – trust me, there is no “hood” to speak of in the Tri-City area; especially when it comes to my family), I’ll find that having the side gig is good for my brain and a little side cash.  (I still remember how my Grandma Harris slowly shut down, not participating and just sitting at home in front of the TV – I don’t want that.)

And if it sucks, I can either out-and-out retire or I can find more work (yes, there are actually more attorneys that would like me to work for them, but I’ve turned them down for one reason or another – okay, they were mostly assholes I don’t like, and life is too short) – whatever works best for me.

I don’t even know which side of the apron strings I am on.

Moving onward.