The end or another beginning?

I was laid off yesterday from a company where I had been employed for almost 28 years.  I got a call around 8am from my manager, he never calls unless it is bad news, and sure enough, this was bad news.  I have never met my manager face to face, I have no idea what he looks likes, and have probably only spoken to him maybe five or six times on the phone in the couple of years he has been my manager.  Oh sure, there has been email communication but not much spoken communication.  This is the new global way of doing business,  and it sucks. 
He said my position was being eliminated, I was not getting fired for poor performance.   There had been a major conversion and this conversion had combined two groups of people, there was a duplication of jobs so some people were being laid off.  Even though I had been with the company for a long time, I was relatively new to this group, so that made me a candidate for termination,  Another longtime employee had gotten laid off as well.  I was surprised they laid him off, he seemed to be somewhat valuable and knowledgeable.  Just goes to show no one is safe.
I didn't like my job at all.  The work was okay, but the people I worked with made the job miserable.  I don't play office politics very well, in fact I really suck at it, and this has always been a problem with this company.  Those who schmoozed and participated in the back-biting and back-stabbing seemd to move ahead.  I have never worked with more back-stabbers in my entire career.  The people in my group were all about self-aggrandizing and pointing out the errors of the other people.  I became unsympathetic to the others in my group, didn't care about them, didn't care to work with them.  And that pretty much fit this work lifestyle of working from home on my own and not having to interface with this group of unpleasant people.  There was one guy that I considered my friend, a fellow Texan.  He was just the opposite of the others, he was caring and sypathetic and interested in helping others. 
The human resources person called me yesterday too with some information and to tell me a packet was being delivered to me today.  This packet is supposed to answer all of my questions.  Every one of them.
I had hoped to retire from this company but like a lot of other hopes and dreams that we have no control over, that will not happen.  I had been to other retirement lunches and dinners and parties and thought this is something I would like to have, friends and coworkers getting together and honoring  a person who had stuck it out through thick and thin and had survived it all to make it to the very end of his career.  It would be an accomplishment, worthy of a certificate in a frame that came in a box to be presented to the retiree.  Maybe a speech by his manager.  I guess it was a dream,  a nice dream, an old fashioned dream.
Since I had an idea that me or someone would be laid off, I was not entirely shocked when told about my termination.  The phone call with my manager lasted about 2 minutes,  He is a know-nothing jerk, two minutes is about all I wanted to talk to him anyway.  I suspect someday soon someone will see what an incompetent paper pusher he is and his days will be numbered.   It's a new business world.
What really makes me sad about all of this is that worked hard for this company for over 27 years.  I gave up a lot of time and sweat for these people. I worked when no one wanted to work, filled in for people who needed to be off, and took on projects in addition to my normal duties.  There are too many things to mention in a blog post about all that I have done for this company during my 27 years.  As an exempt employee (no overtime pay), I gave a lot of free time to this company.  Moving data centers, conversions, testing, disaster recovery testing, being on call, getting called in the middle of the night, working holidays, working nights, whatever was asked of me.  Seems hard work, dedication, and loyalty matter not anymore.  When an employee gets moved from manager to manager and never gets to actually meet the manager, their history gets lost.  History used to be taken into considerstion, but no longer.  It's a new business world. 
After 27 years, all my efforts have been swept away as if I had never worked for this company.  There are no plaques commemorating my time there, no photos of me hanging on the wall shaking hands with the CEO.  My former coworkers won't ever speak of me again in a day or two.  There won't be any discussion about who will pick up my projects or workload, those things will be assimilated into the other's tasks just like it was a normal day.  Since I worked from home, there is no desk to clean out, my former coworkers won't have to dispose of my possessions.  One's life should leave more of a mark on this earth than that.  Are we alll too busy to notice other people anymore? 
I didn't like my job, hadn't liked it for several years now.  I don't feel an empty space in my soul because I can no longer work there.  My main concern is future income.  Since I worked for the company for such a long period of time, my severance package is not too bad, I will be paid until July 2013,  that's 14 months of salary.  There is a part of me that wants to take the entire summer off, then there is a part of me (the more respnsible part) that wants to go look for a job right away.  I am afraid the available jobs will be few and there will be many folks looking for those same jobs.  HP in Plano just announced about 6,000 layoffs.  So I would have to compete with those people for the few jobs out there.  I want to take a couple of months off, June and July, not look for a job and just get things done around the house.  I havent been without a job since I was 17, would be nice to take some time off.  My granddaughter lives with me, it wouldn't be much of a vacation because I have to take care of her.  But any time away from the office would be like a vacation. 
Anyway, not sure what to do with myself today.  Try to stay out of the pit of pity for starters.  I will be fine, I am pretty sure about that.  I have people who love me, and a dog who doesn't care if I have a job or not.  I often thought that if they lay me off, I hope it is during the summer.  I got my wish.