When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. On September 30, 2016 my position with the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council was eliminated and I was given notice of a lay off. HRM offered me an "Enhanced Retirement" offer that gave me an additional 7 years of service in the Virginia Retirement System. It took me about 30 seconds to decide but HRM asked me to think about it first. I said I would and I sent them my request for retirement the very next day. The "enhanced package" gives me 28 years service under VRS. The only downside is that I am 2 years short of the max Social Security benefit so I will continue to do some part-time consulting to fill in the gap in revenue until I hit the SS max.I have sub-contracting agreements with two Legal Case Management Software vendors that will replace the revenue I lost with the early retirement so I am pretty well set. The hardest thing I have had to deal with is the feelings of guilt when I don't go to work every day. I am pretty sure that I will get used to that.