The Last Day
/The Last Day
By: Kimberly Stratman
My last day of work, my retirement date, sounds so serious, so final, and so irreversible. Like a clock stopped ticking. Silence.
Due to the amount of vacation and other earned time I had accumulated over the 30 years I was employed by The Dallas Police Department, I actually stopped going to work about 10 weeks before my official “date of separation.” I was still an “active, sworn employee” drawing full pay and benefits but I didn’t provide any services. I stayed home. I worked out. I walked the dog. I did laundry throughout the week and not just on weekends. I even folded the laundry instead of just grabbing it out of the dryer when needed. Lunch with girlfriends. Naps! Our dogs were thrilled that I was home with them. Our essential oil business thrived. It felt like a long vacation because I knew I was still a cop. I still had a “real’ job. I could still change my mind and go back to work. I still had a City cellphone and email address. I still had a spot on an Org Chart.
Then that final day came. I was still a cop until 5 p.m. Central Standard Time. Excited! Scared! Then excited, then scared. It would be the first time since my teens that I was unemployed.
It was getting closer to 5 p.m. I will never forget what I was doing at exactly that time. I was helping lead a Respiratory Wellness & Oils class on Zoom to folks across the country. That is my passion: serving others. I looked down at the time in the lower right corner and realized it was 5 p.m.
It was done. I was a civilian. If I had tried to use it, I would have found my city email account was closed. I was just me. I was just a mom and wife. I was a child of God. A lover of plants and dogs. The department didn’t govern my behavior. To be brutally honest – my department did not care.
I remember a shaky smile. Then the tears. Many of the people on the Zoom class had no idea of the significance of that moment. My husband had barely made it home early to be there when that moment hit me. He rushed through the door in full uniform and hugged me. I went back to leading my part of the Zoom class. No matter what, my goal was to empower others.
The irony of leaving one segment of my life and entering the next while doing something I loved at the exact moment in time is awesome! It could not have been planned (it was not) any better.
The Last Day.
It was final. It was serious. It was irreversible. The clock did stop clicking. It was silent for a moment- a few heartbeats. But only for that period of my life! I have never looked back. My days, nights, weeks, weekends are full of challenges and opportunities. I went into retirement with a gameplan that has proven to be solid. I have fostered a strong sense of, “yes”. I say, “yes” to situations that I might have said, “nope!” to in the past. I am open to new things, new people, and even a new career. Recognizing that I winged it transitioning into retirement made me wonder why we don’t give the “living” part of retirement more respect and consideration. A new career was born!
Due to the pandemic lockdown my retirement party was put on hold, cheating me out of that milestone. But, retirement is so much more than a date, an event or a party.
Using my plan, honoring my values, acknowledging my purpose, living in my strengths, and saying “yes” has been exactly the right thing to do to honor that last day.
Kimberly Stratman retired as a Lieutenant from the Dallas Police Department after an exciting and fulfilling 30-year career. She and her husband, an active SWAT officer, have two grown sons and two dogs that get lots of attention. Kimberly is the owner of To the Point Coach, a Certified Retirement Life Coach and Certified Life Coach service that focuses on first responders. Her goal is to ensure our law enforcement community thrives. She can be reached @ tothepointcoach.org
