For 12 years, Chris Moyer lived the harsh calculus of commuting from Brentwood: leave at 4:30 a.m. for Oakland and nap in his office parking lot, or steal a few extra minutes of sleep and risk being late for his 7 a.m. shift.
“That’s how much the traffic would stack up,” he said.
Tired of missing so much time with family to sit in gridlock, Moyer retired from his job with the NorCal Carpenters Union in January. Never mind that he was several years shy of maximizing his benefits. Whenever the 59-year-old Moyer now takes his morning stroll to Starbucks with his wife and two dogs, he reflects on those bleary-eyed drives and remembers: Retiring early was one of the best decisions he ever made…