Good news!

 I've had a lovely week. DH and I took a few days off together making it a four-day weekend. Neither of us did any work and it was really nice just to have some time to catch up and hang out together. 

We met with our financial planner and had a very detailed talk about what we want our retirement to look like, how we'll spend our time & money, and going over our current finances. And the good news was that he thinks that we could probably retire much sooner than we had planned. That was a pleasant surprise and a relief. I just feel that all the hard work has paid off and we are going to be OK. 

In 2010 we were in a bad place financially and we have turned that around. I felt a bit emotional after our meeting ended, and since then I have just been daydreaming about what's ahead - gardening, sewing, being free to fill my days as I please. There is still a lot more detailed planning to be done before anything will happen officially but I feel less stressed already.