This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

FRANKFURT, Germany — Friends have asked me on occasion about how I respond to taking time off from work.

My answer usually has been: “I’m good for about a week, maybe 10 days. Then I’m ready to go home, to get back to the grind.”

Guess what. I’m no longer working full time. Neither is my wife. We’re in semi-retirement mode. Our 11-day journey to Germany and The Netherlands is about to end. And for the first time in as long as I can remember I can say that I’m not nearly as ready to return home as I was when I worked for a living.

What’s up with that? What gives?

It’s easy, man. We no longer have job requirements awaiting us. Sure, I still work a couple of part-time jobs. I’m grateful for them both. I’m having fun writing for an Amarillo television station’s website and greeting customers at an auto dealership.

But I have to tell you that our time away from all of that has been glorious in the extreme.

We got reacquainted with good friends. We met their spouses and their children. They showed us the sights and introduced us to cultures in western Europe with which we were unfamiliar.

At this moment, getting ready to catch an 11-hour flight home, I am not entirely ready for this adventure to end.

I believe our semi-retired status is pulling harder on us than any desire to return the “grind” that awaits us in the Panhandle of Texas.

OK, this much also is true. We miss Toby the Puppy; we’re looking forward to seeing our sons, their families and, oh yes, our granddaughter Emma.

But there’s a part of this marvelous journey in Europe I don’t want to end. There’s more to see. More to enjoy. More to taste and smell.

We’ll get back here eventually. My hope is that it’s sooner rather than later.