Paper short abstract

The research is based on a visual documentation which looks at the reactions, the daily activities, the thoughts and feelings that emerge in the first weeks of retirement of my parents.

Paper long abstract

How do two people, who spent over twenty five years working in the same state controlled enterprise, cope with the retirement moment? After three years of rejected retirement applications, a sixty years old couple finally got the answer they so much hoped for. The research is based on a visual documentation which looks at the reactions, the daily activities, the thoughts and feelings that emerge in the first weeks of retirement of my parents. What happens to the time they used to spend at their job? Is this experience the reword they were hoping for? Their stories about the efforts they've made to keep a job in the past decade and the openly expressed desire to start this new stage in their lives are in strong contrast with the way they manage time and activities. The discourse about an idealized projection of retirement shifts towards resignation.