{"id":19610,"date":"2017-02-05T04:08:41","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T04:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=19610"},"modified":"2017-02-05T04:08:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-05T04:08:41","slug":"no-longer-working-for-a-living-but-still-in-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=19610","title":{"rendered":"No longer working for a living … but still in the game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.<\/em><\/p>\n

It has been four years and nearly six months since I quit my job at the Amarillo Globe-News.<\/p>\n

I didn’t expect<\/em> to resign when I did. Circumstances forced me to walk away from a career — and a craft — I had enjoyed to the fullest for nearly 37 years.<\/p>\n

As sad as I was\u00a0at the moment, I am spending far less time looking back and more time looking forward. The next big adventure awaits my wife and me as we continue this transition toward another full-time gig: retirement.<\/p>\n

However, I want to share a gratifying experience that keeps repeating itself as I continue to work part-time as a customer concierge at Street Toyota in Amarillo.<\/p>\n

I wear a name badge at work. I greet customers when they come into our service waiting area. I ask them if there’s anything I can do for them to make them comfortable: Do they need a ride somewhere while their vehicle is being serviced? Do they want something to drink while they wait? Those kinds of things.<\/p>\n

Then I get one of those glances from customers who look at my name, look me in the eye and they might say something like: “John Kanelis … where do I know that name? Your name and face look familiar. Where did you retire from?”<\/p>\n

I tell them I worked for nearly 18 years at the G-N. I wrote a column each week for the Opinion page and I edited the page and wrote editorials.<\/p>\n

“Oh yeah!<\/em> Now I remember!” comes the response.<\/p>\n

“Are you still writing?” the customer might ask. “Oh yes, absolutely,” I tell them.<\/p>\n

I told someone today that I intend to write for as long as I am able. Some folks actually ask me why. Why do you keep writing? My stock answer: It’s what I do.<\/em><\/p>\n

I suppose this is my way of telling readers of this blog that I’ll keep pounding away for as long as I have most of my marbles and as long as I can instruct my fingers to\u00a0write the\u00a0sentences that pop into my noggin.<\/p>\n

Plenty of you are kind enough to read and to respond. I don’t expect to please everyone who reads my musings. That’s all right, too. I got into the business of print journalism understanding that everyone’s values differ and they inform their own world view — just as my values have informed my own.<\/p>\n

No sweat. Just keep bearing with me as we all march on down the road together.<\/p>\n

Once I become a full-time retiree, I do not expect to suspend my desire to keep sharing my thoughts with you here. I will be retired, but I don’t intend to check out anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n

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This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement. It has been four years and nearly six months since I quit my job at the Amarillo Globe-News. I didn’t expect to resign when I did. Circumstances forced me to walk away from a career — and a craft — … Continue reading No longer working for a living … but still in the game<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[179,2122,3920],"class_list":["post-19610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news","category-local-news","tag-agn-media","tag-high-plains-blogger","tag-retirement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19611,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19610\/revisions\/19611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}