It has been a very long time since I have written in this blog. It feels like in some way, my life got put on fast forward. Last I wrote, March 2021, I was finishing my dissertation research and starting to think about future plans. COVID was also in full swing. Much has happened since that time. Toward late 2021, I decided to apply for a post-doctoral fellowship. What is that? It is a temporary academic appointment that allows a new PhD researcher time to get their research off to a good start. It allows a monthly stipend, health insurance and some money for presenting research at professional conferences and tuition for more training. The fellowship lasts only 2 years. So instead of deciding to retire or go back to full time work – I took the cowards way out and kicked the can down the road 2 years. The fellowship would give us 2 more years to decide. These can be very competitive and toward the end of 2021, I learned that I had been awarded the only available slot and would begin Summer 2022. Now I just had to finish the PhD, a requirement for the program.
To make this happen, I closed my private practice as a NP and set to work, turning my dissertation into a full-time job, graduating in May 2022 and starting the fellowship July 1, 2022. This left one month free so we took a one month RV trip out west, visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and Glacier National Park. Then we headed home and I got to work making the most of the time on the fellowship.
Thank goodness for the monthly stipend, because early 2023 the stock market took a downturn. The fellowship was great and I made many strides in my research. The two years went by so very fast. But then I was again left with the quandary – do I look for a full-time academic job or do I retire. There is really no such thing as a part time academic job.
Because we had money enough to retire and working was completely optional, I had the ability to be picky when looking for a position. And, while I really didn’t think we would find a job that met all our conditions (fully remote, 100% research, good salary, great colleagues), I did not need to look far. The University providing my research fellowship offered all these opportunities and more. So, July 2024, I transitioned to a full-time faculty conducting research to make nursing home care better.
This is where we are today, I work as full-time remote faculty while Mr. Sunshine has remained retired. He has also stopped his side gig and no longer works on vehicles. We still like to travel and working as a mechanic requires that you show up in person each day – not in line with our vision. I have worked about 18 months in this new role and have had a couple medical events, requiring hospitalization and even emergency surgery, that has left me wondering about wasting our healthy years sitting at a desk.
Don’t get me wrong, our situation is that of privilege, I recognize that. I can work remote from anywhere in the world, set my own schedule, chose my own projects, and feel a sense of purpose in making the world better. But…. it does mean that we travel less, I enjoy the travel less, and I sit more. Sitting has led to some musculoskeletal issues that have interrupted my fitness and running over the past couple years. So as the new year is just around the corner, I have restarted my running and strength training routines. Slowly rebuilding. I am also beginning to think about slowing life down.
We would like to travel more, but also to be home for our parents (in their 80’s) and our grandchildren (age 4 & 9). Can I slow down and restrict myself to only 40 hours weekly? Can we travel more in 2026 when I will have more vacation time? Or do I need to stay closer to home this year so that I can rebuild my fitness (so hard to do when traveling).
Financially, our investments have recovered from that 2022 dip and have continued to grow. We have maxed out our HSA and contributed to a 401A account through work. However, while our investments have increased, so has our annual expenses due to a bit of lifestyle creep and inflation (mostly inflation). This past year we spent $93,000 but $35,000 was for house repairs (including a new roof – OUCH!). So, for the past couple years our annual spending has been right around $55,000.
So for now, I am working full time and beginning to consider retirement again. I will unpack that consideration in a future post (including our FIRE numbers).
Seeking a Little Sunshine 