Golden Gratitude - R is for Retirement

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R is for retirement. I'm grateful that my disability retirement was approved almost exactly 14 years ago, on November 16th. It was approved exactly one year after events that led to my decision to retire on disability were set in motion, so it was pretty symbolic that it happened on that date. I'm thankful that it didn't take long for me to be approved - just a couple of months. It didn't go into effect until a few weeks later, on December 1st, but at least I knew it was happening. What a happy Thanksgiving I had that year! Retiring on disability was one of the best decisions I ever made for my physical and mental health. It was hard to see it this way at the time, but it turns out, everything I went through the year prior to retirement was setting the stage for a better life.