No longer in my vocabulary

On first day of each new year, I spend a bit of time thinking back on the year gone by, and the changes in my life. I usually pull out last year's journal and read through it, thinking about my work and projects, time off, time spent with friends and family.

This time it struck me how many words are no longer in my vocabulary, now that I'm not working. It's not that these words and phrases have no meaning, it's just that the meaning is different. At any rate, I'm liking this.

Let's face it, the Commute is just gone. It only has meaning if I'm trying to get somewhere on the freeway during everyone else's commute. Which is just bad planning on my part.

I still have a Daily Driver, but since I don't have to drive anywhere on a schedule set by someone else, I need another term for my favorite car. Maybe my "where should we go today" wheels?

What do you call a Vacation when you're retired? I've given this a lot of thought over the past 9 months, but can't come up with the right catchy term.

Sick Leave is irrelevant, and not just because I don't need to take time off to be sick. Since I quit working, I haven't been sick once. Nada. Not at all. No flu, no colds, no sinus infections, no stress. No taking my co-worker's "sick" home, because they aren't smart enough to stay home when they're sick.

Hump Day is no more. Wednesday is Wednesday, just another day of the week.

Lunch Hour. Since I retired, I don't usually eat lunch. And if I did, it would last as long as I wanted, thank you very much!

Day Off. See Sick Leave above. The concept is the same, minus the germs.

My new Career is being a homebody, a traveler, a gardener.  I am still, and always will be, a writer and photographer.