I'm Back!

I had no idea I had been away for so long...much has happened since March 8, 2012. It is really silly to try to recap it all, because most of it was just the stuff of life. There was the small item of a second knee replacement, but it was so much easier than the first that I often forget about it!

What is important for today is that I am 307 days away from retirement, and that is important stuff. I have been working all of my life, starting when I was a kid on the farm and moving through three careers to this day. The thought of retirement is both frightening and exhilarating. I don't know if I really know how to not work, yet the thoughts of being able to work at what I want to do is very appealing. I am ready to give it a shot.

One of the things which comes with knowing when one is going to retire is what I am calling "the long good-bye," the realization that everything I am doing at the church I am doing for the last time in this place. There was the last standing for appointments at Annual Conference (a United Methodist thing), Fourth of July celebration, the last county fair...and there will be the last Christmas celebration, the last Easter, and the last worship service to be done here. I will probably do these things in another place, but it will be different.

The second most important thing is the upcoming vacation and mission trip. If I look back to 2011, these pages record the first mission trip for our congregation, a trip to Louisiana. In a little over a week, a different group of folks will be having their first mission experience as we go to Colorado and participate in flood relief work. It seems odd to be going on a mission trip to the state in which I grew up and the state where I will make my retirement home. Stay turned for reports from the work we do. After the mission work is done, we will be relaxing for a few days at the family home. It is a good time a'comin'.

so I am back, and I am glad...I hope I stay put this time!

Blessings...