I Took a Three-Month Break… And Here’s What I Learned About Sudden Retirement

When I started Sudden-Retirement.com, it was pure survival.
A pressure valve.
A place to pour all the shock, anger, and “What on earth just happened?”

This blog was my therapy before I admitted I needed therapy.
My confessional before I even knew what I was confessing.
My release valve when everything felt too tight.

But somewhere in the middle of all that ranting… something else happened.
I rediscovered my voice.

I remembered that I actually love writing.
Not corporate emails.
Not meeting notes.
Not “per my last message” diplomacy.
Real writing — messy, honest, funny, mine.

And once that creative switch flipped back on, it didn’t stop.

During my “I swear I’m coming back soon” break from the blog, I somehow wrote an entire e-book about reinventing yourself after retirement — because apparently I had a lot more to say than could fit in a blog post.
Then I wrote a short memoir about my grandfather, because the man was indeed one of a kind and those stories deserved to live somewhere other than family text threads.

And then… Easter happened.

I built a scavenger hunt for my granddaughters — nothing fancy, just Grandma-level mischief with clues, riddles, and a little chaos.
But listening to how much fun they had doing it and what they wanted for next year something clicked:
I could make fun.
Like… literally create it.
On paper.
In printables.
In games.
In ways that brought people together.

And suddenly, The Cozy Printables Co. was born.
(Technically it was born somewhere between clue #6 and the jelly bean meltdown, but you get the idea.)

Turns out retirement isn’t just about slowing down.
Sometimes it’s about opening up.
To hobbies.
To curiosity.
To reinvention.
To the dangerous question: What if I try this?
And then trying it anyway.

So here I am — back.
Not because I “should.”
Not because it’s good for pageviews.
But because I miss this space.

I miss talking about the weirdness of reinventing yourself when everyone assumes you’re busy organizing your spice drawer or sitting in the rocker doing a crossword puzzle.
I miss laughing at how “retired” somehow turned into “busier than I’ve ever been.”
I miss sharing the real stuff — the messy, funny, hopeful truth of starting over at a stage of life that doesn’t come with a map.

And I want you with me.

Sudden Retirement isn’t the end.
It’s the plot twist.
And I’m finally ready to write the next chapter.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing:

• What the first year of sudden retirement actually felt like
• How writing an e-book (and a family memoir!) changed everything
• How an Easter scavenger hunt accidentally launched a business
• The things no one warns you about this stage of life
• And how to find purpose, humor, and maybe even income after the 9–5 disappears

If you’ve ever felt lost, angry, excited, confused, or out of place in retirement…
Welcome to the club.
I’m right here with you — learning, laughing, creating, and reinventing one project at a time.

Thanks for being here.
Here we go, again.