I don't miss my career. I miss being witnessed.

For decades, colleagues observed my skills, remembered my contributions, reflected my existence back to me through collaboration and recognition.

Now I garden alone. Write alone. Cook alone.

The quiet reward of retirement isn't freedom from responsibility—it's the challenge of becoming your own witness. Learning to validate your efforts without external confirmation.

To see yourself clearly without the mirror of others' perceptions.

Perhaps this is adulthood's final frontier: becoming sufficient audience for your own life.