Thinking about retirement, prematurely

My mom retired earlier this year, and last week, they hosted a retirement party for her. The party was attended by a bevy of people from my mom’s past: current coworkers, former bosses, former teammates working in different parts of the city, and even a bunch of people who had retired but came back for this celebration. Four of them spoke at the event, and spoke very highly of my mom. She was lauded and appreciated and applauded by everyone there. It was beautiful. (I was lucky enough to attend virtually — they set up a virtual link just for me — and it made me smile to see my mom light up with surprise when she saw me on the screen.) So far, my mother has embraced retirement: she has dived deep into community work, has spent more time with her sisters and brother, has embarked on fun travels (she’s actually in Malta now as I type this), and has spent more time with my dad, who retired a couple of years ago. I can tell she still misses work, but she’s starting to get used to not being…