Retirement and all of its ramifications is an essential topic of interest for agebuzz readers. We are therefore fortunate to introduce you to Renee Langmuir, founder of the website The Rookie Retiree and our newest agebuzz Guest Blogger. Her regular column will be entitled “The Rookie Retiree” and she will be sharing the experiential wisdom she’s gained as someone who recently retired. Her background and passions are sure to resonate with many agebuzz readers, so we wanted to make sure readers get to know Renee a bit better before diving into her posts. Recently, agebuzz Managing Editor Connie Zuckerman had the opportunity to interview Renee. What follows is an edited version of their conversation.

CZ: Welcome Renee! Let’s start from the beginning. Where did you grow up and can you tell us a bit about what life was like for you as a young woman?

RL: I grew up in a modest rowhouse in a Jewish neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia in the 1950s and ’60s. My neighborhood was quite homogeneous, as was its value structure. Women were expected to go to college to become teachers and to marry someone from the community who was pursuing a gender-related profession in the fields of law, medicine, or business. I was 100% compliant! I married my first husband at the age of 20, and he earned his MBA.

CZ: Can you tell us about your educational background and what your plans were for a career?

RL: Lucky for me, I actually always wanted to be a teacher! I was the one always playing school in our neighborhood. When I became an elementary teacher, I couldn’t believe I actually got paid to do the thing I loved.

CZ: How in fact, did your career turn out? As planned? Twists and Turns? Did you follow a straight path or did life take you in a different direction than you anticipated?

RL: In my first year of teaching, I realized I didn’t know how to teach reading effectively. I got a Master’s Degree in the Psychology of Reading and became a reading specialist. I worked in various public schools with a 9-year break to raise children until 2008. The oppression of government intrusion into the schools became unbearable. Teacher autonomy was replaced by unrelenting testing and “fidelity” to ineffective programs and materials. I left to become the Director of Student teaching at a local university.

CZ: Can you discuss your own family situation as you became an adult? Married? Children? Grandchildren?

RL: My adult life has been greatly affected by the death of my first husband at age 29. He was climbing Mt. Rainier and was buried in an avalanche in 1981. I had a 20-month-old child at the time. I remarried and had a son, but later divorced. I am now married for the third time in a very happy marriage. The early death of my husband caused significant reverberations in the family, especially with my two children. This event led me on a spiritual path to try to find some peace. I now have two adult children: a married daughter who has been a food writer and now is a wine merchant and a son who is a social worker.

CZ: It appears that your own retirement was a pivotal moment in your life. Can you discuss what happened and what you thought would happen when you retired? How did real life differ from your expectations?

RL: On the day I abruptly retired, I was 64 years old, never imagining this would be my last day of work. I needed to reach the magic Medicare age of 65. In the background, my daughter was planning a destination wedding and feeling I was too busy to help, and my two 94-year-old parents needed lots of support in their continuing care facility. I was the icon of the “sandwich generation.” My job at the university was to find all undergraduates, graduates, and online students field and student teaching placements every semester. For financial reasons, the coordinator of the online placements was terminated. My new job was simply unsustainable for one person. Some nasty adult behavior and my undeniable physical ailments caused me to leave and never come back. From the moment I left work, my mental and physical health improved dramatically.

CZ: Now in your retirement, you seem to have set many ambitious goals for yourself. Can you talk about how you developed those goals and how your life is these days?

RL: In the beginning, I treated retirement like a retreat. I needed lots of self-care and time for contemplation. Besides domestic chores, there was journaling, yoga, walking, bookkeeping for my husband’s business, and meeting with friends. I soon found challenges began to arise (what to do with all those clothes, putting work in perspective, etc.). I began writing personal essays and researching the topics. One by one, each essay helped me transition into retirement. It became apparent when I wanted to add something new to my life, but I did this very sparingly. I had a sign on my refrigerator, “Less is required of you.”

CZ: What are you most passionate about at this time? How do you spend your time when you’re not working?

RL: Although I have lost the intensity of my youthful passion, I have several things I care about deeply. I treasure my relationship with my husband and our unique lifestyle in a semi-rural area, rooted in nature, art, and history (Chadds Ford, Pa.) I am passionate about maintaining a balanced relationship with my two grown children, feeling connected, but respecting their boundaries. I’m passionate about nature, making my volunteer time with flowers and goats a priority. I’m also passionate about being able to volunteer periodically when my presence can be helpful: making vaccine appointment phone calls for the county during the pandemic, volunteering at a food drive for agricultural workers, and registering voters this past fall. I also value my close female friends, and see them regularly for lunch!

CZ: What has been the most interesting or unanticipated part of your retirement life to date?

RL: There are many great surprises in retirement: feeling the joy of not having time constraints, not being a slave to a paycheck, etc. But one fun surprise is about working alongside people who work with their hands. Knowledge workers are so snooty. All would be shocked at how difficult it is to show up for work every day for 8 hours and use one’s body, for years at a time. I have great respect for everyone who does that!

CZ: Any final words of wisdom to share with agebuzz readers about your retirement, your current life, or what your hopes are for the future?

RL: I find that retirement and getting older is a time that is very fluid. While my parents seemed to have the same routine for so many years, my life is so different. For a woman who always had a “to-do list” ready for so many decades, it’s wonderful to begin to feel comfortable with serendipity and a free schedule.