Tag Archives: retirement

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Happy Trails, Part Four

Now that full-time retirement has arrived, I plan to engage in the one activity I pursue with unbridled vigor.

I love to write. I take great pleasure in sharing thoughts — the wisdom and quality of which I’ll let others decide — with others. I do so through this forum.

After I left full-time print journalism in August 2012, I continued to write on this blog and then started writing for a couple of other media outlets: KFDA-TV NewsChannel 10 and Panhandle PBS.

My wife joked with me constantly about how cool it was to get paid for “having fun.” It truly was a labor of joy; I refer to it as such because calling it a “labor of love” would imply I did it for free. That, obviously, wasn’t the case. But that work did allow to continue pursuing something I have loved doing since I decided in late 1970 — as I prepared to re-enroll in college after my two-year U.S. Army stint — to pursue a career in journalism.

That love hasn’t abated one bit in the 47 years that have come and gone.

My focus now — besides travel and preparing to relocate somewhere much nearer to our precious granddaughter, Emma — will be this blog.

It’s going to focus primarily on politics and public policy. I’ll make no apologies for the criticism I intend to launch toward the current president of the United States. I do hope to be able to praise him when the opportunity presents itself; indeed, I did so recently when he signed that big NASA appropriations bill that lays out a lot of money for Mars exploration.

The blog also will continue to include what I like to call “life experience” commentary. You know about Toby the Puppy and the joy he has brought to my wife and me. There’ll be more of those musings as time marches on.

And, of course, I intend to share the expected enjoyment of retired life and the travel across North America that it will bring to us.

With that …

We’re off like a dirty shirt to see what lies ahead.

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Happy Trails, Part Three

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Today has been a grand day.

The sun rose in the east this morning. The sky is blue. The air is calm. The temperatures are balmy.

And some colleagues of mine sprang for lunch for my wife and me. They wanted to treat us to a goodbye meal. We had a retirement party at a local restaurant.

Why is that a big deal? It is because I received something I had wanted to get from my employer in a previous life. Circumstances beyond my control precluded a retirement party from the Amarillo Globe-News. The guy who runs the newspaper decided in the summer of 2012 to “reorganize” his news/opinion operation, forcing everyone to apply for whatever jobs they wanted; I applied for the job I’d done there for 17-plus years, but they decided to hand that job to someone else.

I had two choices: apply for another job for less money and a demotion or resign. Since I was uniquely qualified to do the job that was delivered to another individual, which gave me virtually zero chance of staying employed at the Globe-News, I chose to walk away.

Then I began a new life that led me in July 2013 to Street Toyota in Amarillo, where I worked for more than three years as a service department concierge. The job was a blast. My job description was simple: Just greet service customers with a smile, make them feel comfortable and try to turn their visit to the dealership into a pleasurable experience.

That job comes to an official end Tuesday. Full-time retirement awaits. My wife and I — along with Toby the Puppy — plan to hit the road for points all across North America.

Today, though, we had a wonderful lunch with several of my auto dealership colleagues. We joked about the ups and downs of the past three years. They said some nice things about our relationship, wished my wife and me good luck and Godspeed as we prepare for the next phase of our life.

And they gave me a going-away watch. Hey, it’s not a solid-gold Rolex, but it keeps good time!

These sweet colleagues not only made my day, they delivered to me a certain kind of closure I had hoped to receive in that prior life.

This one, though, feels just right.

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Happy Trails, Part Two

My wife is likely to tell you that I am a bit resistant to change. I accept that about myself, although I am happy to report that over the years I’ve discovered my more “adaptable” side.

As we prepare to move — eventually — from where we have lived for more than two decades, I am facing a certain quandary.

What am I going to call this blog?

I named it “High Plains Blogger” when I started it many years ago because I intended to identify the part of the world where my wife and I reside. It’s the High Plains of Texas. Amarillo sits at a fairly high elevation, just a shade less than 3,700 feet above sea level. I mention that to visitors and, why, they’re simply astounded, I tell ya!

Our move isn’t exactly imminent. We still have things to do around the house to get it ready to sell. I do get this question on occasion: Are you going to keep writing your blog? The answer categorically, unequivocally, enthusiastically is not just “yes,” but “hell yes!”

My resistance to change, though, is making me wonder whether I should change the name of this blog. I like the title “High Plains Blogger.” Given that I am a Clint Eastwood fan, I liken it to his film “High Plains Drifter.”

While the blog’s brand isn’t a universal one — despite my desire to reach billions of people with each post — High Plains Blogger has developed a bit of a following over the years. It’s still small, but it’s growing.

This quandary presents my first semi-serious challenge as we enter full-time retirement mode.

Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll refer you to the blog.

https://highplainsblogger.com/

It goes back some years.

I’m not actually soliciting name-change ideas. I will consider any suggestions. My gut tells me at this moment that I’d like to leave the blog title alone.

I just don’t like change.

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Happy Trails … to us

This blog has allowed me to cover many things over the years I’ve been writing it.

Its primary focus is politics and public policy. I also choose to write about “life experience” and assorted other matters that pop into my noggin. I’ve shared with you how my wife and I have become parents to an adorable puppy named Toby; I post Puppy Tales items on occasion.

I also have been writing what I call an “occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.” I included that message in a sort of “editor’s note” at the start of those entries.

Today I announce the end of that feature on “upcoming retirement.” There’s no more “upcoming” about it.

It’s here. It has arrived. Or, shall I say it’s arrival is right around the corner.

Accordingly, you’re going to get a new series of blog posts. I’m calling it “Happy Trails.”

It will chronicle the adventures upon which we are embarking. They might involve travel in our fifth wheel RV; they might include a vignette about Toby the Puppy; they might involved preparations we’re making to relocate.

Or … they might simply offer some perspective on issues of the day from a retired individual who spent nearly 37 years in daily journalism, most of it commenting on issues, public officials or the community where we were living.

It was my goal at the Amarillo Globe-News to retire from that organization. I arrived there in January 1995 to become editorial page editor of the Daily News and Globe-Times. The papers merged in 2001 to become the Globe-News — which is what most folks in the Panhandle called it anyway; the afternoon paper, the Globe-Times, vanished.

Circumstances beyond my control didn’t allow me to retire from the paper. The publisher reorganized the place in the summer of 2012. He instructed all employees in the newsroom — and yours truly — to apply for any job they wanted. I looked at the rewritten job description, saw the few new wrinkles in it — and then decided to apply for my own job.

It didn’t work out quite the way I anticipated. The publisher decided to hire someone else, a former colleague of mine who worked under my supervision for several years before he had transferred back to another department in the newsroom.

I was — shall we say — stunned to get the news.

I quit the next day. Cleared out my office, went to visit with the publisher for a brief — and awkward — meeting. Then I was on my way.

All I wanted was to be able to retire, to leave of my own volition. I was unable to do so in quite the manner I envisioned, unable to retire from the craft I had loved for so many years. To this day, even though I resigned, I feel almost like a persona non grata at the Globe-News.

But … what the hey!

That was then. The here and now has arrived. I am going to retire — on my own terms — from the part-time job I’ve been working for the past three-plus years.

So, this blog is going to include a feature I hope you’ll enjoy reading as much as I intend to enjoy writing.

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Open road awaits

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

I happen to be a good place right now. At this moment.

One week from today, my wife and I will become fully retired.

What lies ahead? Well, we don’t know — precisely. We have lined out a general blueprint that involves travel in our pickup nicknamed Big Jake, our fifth wheel recreational vehicle, spending more time with our precious granddaughter and eventually — let me emphasize, eventually — moving from the High Plains of Texas to the Metroplex region.

I am having a wonderful time telling colleagues at the auto dealership where I work part-time about our upcoming plans. Invariably, they ask: What are you going to do? Where are you going?

My answer: I don’t know. That’s the answer to both ends of that question. We do not know.

It’s the adventure of it all that excites us at this moment.

I’ve been telling friends all over Amarillo that my wife and I believe we have one big challenge left to meet. This appears to be it.

We have decided to pick up and move everything we own down the road a good bit. Do we have a detailed, finalized plan lined out? Not yet. It’s coming.

Our plan at this moment is to simply “go on down the road.” We don’t yet know the location of our final destination. Our immediate plan is merely to travel, to see the sights and hear the sounds of this wonderful continent of ours.

We’ve set foot in 47 of the 50 states; we will make it a clean sweep — possibly very soon. We have visited four Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. We’ll get to the rest of them, too … at least we hope.

The open road awaits us.

We will embark on it with joy in our hearts.

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Don’t try to solve this life’s mystery

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

I have been having a series of conversations lately with some young colleagues of mine at the auto dealership where — for now — I work part time.

They go something like this:

Me: I need to tell you that I’ve given notice and I am leaving.

Colleague: Really? Congratulations! What will you do?

Me: I’m retiring.

Colleague: Where will you go?

Me: I don’t know.

Colleague: That’s so cool. I am so happy for you. I cannot wait for the day when I can do that. It so far off.

Here is where I give these youngsters a tiny, good-natured but sincere lecture.

This is difficult to explain, but consider this to be one of those unsolvable mysteries of life.

You likely will not realize it in real time. You might not know it a week, month or even years from now. But before you know it — and you’ll know when it arrives — it will occur to you that it’s time to hang it up.

And when you make that decision, you’re going to look back over one or both of your shoulders and say, “What the hell happened? Where did the time go?”

That is my way of imparting to them a piece of wisdom my dear late mother gave to me: Do not wish your life away. Live your life one day at a time. Before you know it, you’ll be much farther down the road and you’ll realize that the time — your time — has arrived. You will have worked hard and you will know it is time to reap the reward.

It’s not worth the effort to seek a solution to this mystery.

I know one thing only: The time for my wife and me to get on down the road has just about arrived. No, we don’t know precisely where that road will take us. Members of our family have a pretty good general idea where we’ll end up. We will settle on a destination in due course.

Suffice to say, however, that our destination will involve our precious granddaughter.

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Rite of passage awaits — possibly

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

A possible rite of passage associated with, um, growing older has just arrived in my e-mail inbox.

It involves a high school reunion advisory. No. 50 is on the horizon. Planning is underway, the message said; they want to update the information they — whoever they are — have on me.

Here’s the quandary: Do I go or do I stay away?

Why the conflict? I’ve attended two reunions of the Parkrose (Ore.) High School Class of 1967. One was the 10-year reunion in 1977; the other was the 30-year gathering in 1997.

The 30-year reunion was such a downer for me I made a pact upon departing Portland for Amarillo that I’d never return for another one. Why? Well, I made an unpleasant discovery at the 30-year reunion, which was that I didn’t have as many “friends” as I thought I did.

I had moved away from Portland in 1984 after starting my career in journalism. I had been married for more than dozen years at that point; my wife and I produced two sons, who at the time of the move were coming of age. We embarked on a new journey in Texas and more than three decades later, we look back on that journey and marvel at the things we’ve seen, done and experienced.

I got word of the 40-year reunion sometime in 2007, but opted to stay away for the reason I mentioned a moment ago. I didn’t care to go back to find something that I knew wasn’t there: a kinship, a reason to renew old relationships … because there was precious little on which to build such a renewal.

Twenty years have passed since that 30-year reunion. I am now in a totally different place. I am retired from that career. My wife and I have much more “free” time on our hands.

I mentioned to her this morning that I had gotten the e-mail advising me of the planning that was underway for the 50-year reunion. Her response? “We could take our fifth wheel back to Portland and we could attend your reunion — if that’s what you want to do.”

Great idea! We could plan a cross-continent excursion around such an event, see the sights we want to see, relax and enjoy the fellowship we would have with each other and with Toby the Puppy. Then we could show up at wherever they are having this reunion and I could shake a few hands, slap a few backs, perhaps get a hug or three from classmates and then we’d be on our way.

I’m going to ponder this some more. Even though we aren’t yet quite fully retired, the notion of adding this event to a busy travel schedule doesn’t sound quite as, oh, onerous as it did two decades ago after Reunion No. 30 had concluded.

Time has this way … you know?

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Four new tires … check

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

We shelled out a few bucks today getting our pickup more road-worthy for some big adventures we’ve got coming up.

You’ll be apprised of them in due course.

For now, I want to report that the big ol’ Dodge Ram 3/4-ton pickup we nicknamed Big Jake is good to go.

We slapped four new tires on the rig today, getting the big guy ready to haul our fifth wheel to points hither and yon. It’s one of those things we will need to do as we prepare for this next big life adventure that awaits us.

I have told you about our changing life. The full-time retirement gig is approaching at an accelerated pace. We aren’t there just yet, but we are on our way.

Big Jake has been a good truck for us. He’s been dependable, strong, sturdy and durable. I say this at some risk of jinxing us, but we’ve had more difficulty with the fifth wheel than with the truck. Our RV has been reliable, too. We did blow out some wheel bearings while motoring down Interstate 40 between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa, N.M. We sat on the side of the freeway while the wheels was being repaired. There have been a few other minor mishaps along the way with the RV.

The truck? Big Jake is a beastly vehicle, man.

Now he’s got four new “shoes” in the form of tires on which to hit the road. The tread is deep and my hope is that it will remain that way for many miles to come.

The open road awaits.

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Former life offers humbling reminder

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

I am living a life in two parts.

The first was geared toward crafting a career; the second is developing a life beyond that career.

As I move farther into the second part of life, I find myself intersecting with what I used to do, when I “worked for a living.”

I work part-time for an auto dealership in Amarillo. My job is to work with customers as a service department “concierge.” I wear a name badge. Customers walk into our service waiting area and some of them spot my name tag and will say something like, “Hey, aren’t you the guy who worked at the newspaper?” I tell them yes.

We engage in some small talk that involves my former job, which I left more than four years ago.

Why mention all of this? I guess it is to acknowledge publicly how humbling it is to realize that what I used to do — which was write editorials and columns while editing the Opinion page of the local newspaper — had some measure of impact on people’s lives.

I find that gratifying and — as I think about it — a bit unnerving.

The gratification comes as people still recognize my name all these years after I resigned my post at the Amarillo Globe-News. It gives me no small level of satisfaction to believe I had some impact on those who see a name they recognize from the newspaper.

I don’t presume that the impact was always a positive one. I occasionally hear from those I meet who tell me “I didn’t usually agree with your point of view, but I read it.”

They read it. That’s all that matters. I am not kidding about that. I always knew that people’s minds don’t change because of something they read. I also know that most of us have our own world view and I never should expect to change anyone’s mind any more than my own mind would change if I read something with which I disagree.

To be sure I get a bit unnerved about these meetings, too. I don’t freeze. I like to think I can engage most perfect strangers in collegial conversation. The unnerving comes when I try to cope with these perfect strangers recognizing my name in the first place.

I joke with some of them that the ethnic sound to my name is what sticks in their memory. Oh, no, they respond. That’s not it. OK. I’ll accept your answer.

The second part of the life I intend to pursue with my wife awaits. It’s just difficult at times to shake that first part loose. I enjoy reliving that prior life.

The first part is likely to disappear when we move on down the road.

We are getting ready for that moment.

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Getting ahead of ourselves in trip planning? Sure thing!

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

It has come to this.

We haven’t even embarked on our next road trip pulling our fifth wheel and we’re already thinking ahead to the next trip, or the next two — or maybe three — excursions.

The next one is mapped out: the Texas Hill Country, then over to Ruidoso, N.M. to meet up with sis and her husband.

The one after that is a little less firm, but it’s taking shape: heading east to D.C., to see our niece and her husband, then to Roanoke to see good friends; after that it’s still up in the air. We’re awaiting to hear firm travel plans from some friends in Israel who are coming Stateside to attend a Rotary International conference.

The one after that one is even less set up: Metroplex to see family and then head for points south and east. Details will be worked out later.

That’s what it’s come to. We cannot avoid planning far beyond our next journey.

We plan much more of this as a change in our lives overtakes us. You’ll be kept apprised of that change as it occurs. Rest assured that it involves spending more time with our precious granddaughter.

More to come on that part of our lives, too.