Looking Back at 2025: Retirement, Travel & Homestead Life

Looking back, 2025 was a pretty full year. There were big life changes, trips, bowling, attempts to get back into running, plenty happening around the homestead, and more little moments than I could possibly give their own blog posts.

Some of the bigger stories already have their own posts or videos, but I wanted to take a look back at the year as a whole. Here’s a little of what kept us busy throughout 2025.

A Big Life Change

One of the biggest things that happened this year was retirement. After a federal career that began in September of 1999, I found myself facing a transition I hadn’t expected to happen quite this way. There was a retirement party, complete with cake and a decorated desk, and a whole new chapter ahead.

I stopped working at the end of February, and my retirement became official on December 31. Now I’m just waiting to see how long it takes for that first retirement check to show up.

I wrote more about that experience in I Wasn’t Expecting to Retire at 49.

Getting Out and About

We managed to fit in some travel and plenty of bowling this year.

In March, there was a bowling tournament—I didn’t bowl the best, but I did win the raffle for a new bowling ball! Since I was retired, I decided to go from the bowling tournament to my parents’ house in Florida. Got myself some well-deserved beach time and quality time with my parents.

In May, we took a trip to Washington, D.C., Arlington and Gettysburg. It deserves a post of its own, and I just haven’t gotten around to writing it yet. Here are some pics, but someday I will go into it more.

June brought a trip to Las Vegas for Bowling Nationals. I’ve been to Vegas before, but this was my first time bowling there. We bowled for two days and managed to see some sights along the way, including Red Rock Canyon, Spring Mountain Ranch, Hoover Dam, and Fremont Street. I shared more about that trip in Bowling Nationals, Las Vegas Style.

In October I got to bowl at my first “Seniors” tournament—I am not really sure I like that title… but I am 50 now, so if the shoe fits?

In November, Chris and I took a ski trip to Breckenridge with his son. Well, Chris snowboarded… I stuck with hiking! From there, we traveled south to Colorado Springs to spend Thanksgiving with family.

Apparently, there was no shortage of reasons to pack a bag!

Getting Back Into Running

Running was another part of my year, and it felt good to start working my way back into it.

I wasn’t running my fastest times, but I slowly kept putting one foot in front of the other. By July, I managed to get a 10K done (6.2 miles) in 1 hour and 42 minutes, averaging a 16:32-minute mile.

That run was a milestone for me. It wasn’t about setting speed records. It was about getting out there, no matter how slow.

There was also plenty of baseball, some arena football games (and of course the Chiefs!), kayaking, and trout fishing at Montauk. Staying active certainly wasn’t limited to running shoes!

Life on the Homestead

Of course, the homestead kept us busy, too.

There were baby goats galore, and my daughter was able to come visit and play with them this spring. We also brought home some new pigs, most notably our new boar Freddie, and added another batch of chicks. Between the animals, the garden, and everything else, there was always something that needed attention.

The orchard started producing, and summer brought apples, corn, and elderberries. I spent time hunting morels in the spring, and later in the year, there was plenty of canning and preserving to do.

I made elderberry concentrate and jam, canned fruit, worked with the orchard apples, and kept finding ways to put the harvest to good use. There was also sourdough, and by the end of the year, I was rendering lard and working on traditional Christmas foods like pan sobao and pasteles.

Growing food is rewarding, but getting it from the garden or orchard into jars, meals, and the freezer takes a fair amount of work. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

We lost a mama pig and were left caring for six tiny orphaned piglets while our very first incubator hatch was getting underway. What started as a difficult situation turned into one of the more memorable experiences of the year.

It was a lot to take on, but those little piglets became quite the characters. Before long, they were acting like they belonged in the house with the dogs!

I shared more about the experience in This Wasn’t the Weekend We Planned. You can also watch the YouTube Short about the piglets.

Projects, Wildlife, and Unexpected Moments

There were other things happening throughout the year that don’t necessarily fit into one category.

The solar carport foundation was one of the bigger projects underway. We also had turkeys around, and at the end of October, Chris got a deer. That meant more work processing and making use of what we had, including deer broth.

We saw the aurora again in November, too. My first sighting had been in May 2024, so this was my second overall. It’s one of those things that makes you stop what you’re doing and look up.

And then there was a little moment that still makes me laugh.

Four of us stopped at an A&W in Iowa for root beer floats. While two of my friends were bantering back and forth, I was trying to get everyone’s orders sorted out at the counter. I got one of them to place her order, then tried to get the other two to pay attention long enough to order theirs.

The kid behind the counter watched the whole thing and said, “I never actually saw The Golden Girls, but this is what I imagine it was like.”

We’ll be laughing about this for years!

The Little Traditions

Some things have become traditions over the years, and one of them is celebrating my birthday at a Royals game. We kept that going in 2025, too.

There were also family outings, Christmas preparations, and all the everyday things that don’t always make it into a blog post. We sold walnuts, enjoyed the fall harvest, and wrapped up the year with time spent together.

Looking back, it wasn’t just one big event that made 2025 memorable. It was the combination of retirement, travel, running, animals, food, projects, and all the unexpected moments in between.

There were hard days, busy days, and plenty of days when I wondered how so much could fit into one week. But there were also new experiences, progress on things that mattered to me, and lots of reasons to be grateful.

If 2025 taught me anything, it’s that life doesn’t necessarily slow down when one chapter ends. Sometimes it just fills up with different things.

And that’s a pretty good way to head into the next chapter.