commencement?

It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn - which is what life is all about.

Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), Oprah Magazine, May 2004

I like a lot of what Ms. Winfrey says.  I even like most of what she said here.  But while I do agree, and plan on pursuing, new adventures, growth and learning, I do not think that those pursuits are what ALL of life is about.  If you care to join me on this adventure I will share with you might thoughts about the most important thing in life.

I am about to embark on the next great adventure of my life.  As I write this I have 19 days 20 hours and 16 minutes until my Retirement.  That will be the commencement ceremony of the 2018 graduating class and the end my formal duties as a professor of psychological science at William Jewell College.  Technically I have a 9-month contract that is paid out over 12 months.  So, my pay will continue until August 31, 2018. Yeah!

Retirement is the name that is given to this upcoming stage of life.  I do not care all that much for the name.  The Cambridge dictionary defines retirement as “the act of leaving your job and stopping working, usually because you are old.”  Well now, isn’t that a fine how-do-you-do? 

I am leaving my current job.  But if the to-do-list my lovely bride and I are creating is any indication the working will not be stopping any time soon.   And don’t even get me started on the old thing.  I am not old!  Although I do sometimes make old man sounds while getting out of chairs.

So, let’s agree not to use the “R” word.  I prefer to think about this time as a beginning.  Can we agree to call this stage of life a “commencement”?

I hope you will join me as I commence the next stage of my life.  Over the coming months and years I hope to share about service, travel, health, finances, family (including kids and grandkids), hobbies and whatever else comes up.

Some of the things on my schedule include:

1)    A trip to Israel and Jordan with my friend Elvin.

2)    A trip to Disney World with my Family (including Charlotte and Logan)

3)   A cruise to Alaska

4)   A cruise to the Arctic Circle

5)   A cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia

6)   Yard work

So let the commencement commence!