Tag: retire

The on-deck goodbye

After quitting blogging in 16 days, the on-deck goodbye is Glacier.

By the way, quitting Glacier has a unique context. Almost like a disclaimer.

The plan is to quit the ‘prolific’ annual stays in Glacier.

The plan is to remain open to future, shorter, visits. Perhaps annually. Time will tell.

The idea of visiting for only a week or two in a given year seems uncomfortable weird. Simultaneously, it feels way better than saying ‘never returning’.

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This website is about our SPIRIT. To enjoy today’s post about our WORK, click here.

Saying goodbye to Glacier

Saying goodbye to Glacier snuck up on me.

Not saying the thought is new. Saying it seemed farther off than 2025.

Last year it became clear that i could never live there. Had always held a romantic belief that somehow it could work. Last Summer’s (2024) extended stay in East Glacier was convincing. East Glacier was the final ‘town’ on my list of possibilities. Discovered that the cold and desolation couldn’t tip the scale.

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This website is about our SPIRIT. To enjoy today’s post about our WORK, click here.

Chip

Florida sand trail
Unremarkable and ordinary situations can have outcomes that are shocking and tragic.

 

Bird feathers scattered on the ground
While running. This ended fatally for the bird.

 

He retired at 52 this past Summer. Chip, the father of our son’s Sunday School friend, responded to two (separate) local Police Officer murders.

A suicidal young couple that killed a Windermere Police officer before taking their own lives.

Plus, in a separate incident, two teens at the new LA Fitness construction site where another Windermere Police Officer was checking out their suspicious behavior at 4am – one of the teens fatally shot the officer.

Chip was a fire fighter for 25 years. He’s 52. We occasionally see each other at the gym. We haven’t seen each other since i retired 14 months ago. i chose not to mention i too am retired. Being retired is a major life milestone. But it pales in comparison to the dreams he has at night from those emergency responder calls.

 

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This website is about our spiritual health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my career health website, click here.

Not everyone wanted to be there

Orlando classroom

 

Orlando Baby Boomer Speakers

 

The whole thing started because she generously and compassionately gave up her seat at the table.

We sat at the table, close to 20 of us, for the Disney retirement services overview. Some of us have already retired. For others it will happen next week or the week after.

Her job, and the colleague (34 years of Disney service) with her were retiring because her department was being permanently closed. There were no internal options.

She will see things she’s never seen before. Like a caterpillar waiting.

She provided a quick tour of her work location since it was in the same building as the meeting. Mid Life Celebration, the book, is something she said she wants to read. If she doesn’t buy it in 72 hours, it will never happen.

A metaphor for life, no?

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