5 Years of Retirement

Five years ago today people at work gave me a little retirement sendoff in the faculty dining room at Canisius College. My colleagues gave a beer gift that included a couple of gift cards for Consumer Beverages and a very nice high quality thermos-like growler. That growler was really special and I've used it a lot over the few years. It has a great seal and designed to keep the beer cold. One time when I was over at Resurgence Brewery on Niagara Street after we had a couple of drafts I got out my growler for some take home beer. The bartender was excited about the growler and called a few other staff members over to see it while he explained to them the benefits of this particular container.

The little party at work was nice and there was a cake and snack foods. Later I would meet a few more colleagues at the Steer for a few.

Earlier I had an official retirement / 20 year service recognition at the College during their annual Celebration of Service ceremony where I shook hands with the college president and received a watch and a desk clock. Certainly was a time theme going on.

The biggest disappointment of the retirement ceremony perhaps was the statement read by a colleague during the Celebration of Service for my 20 years and upcoming retirement. I know the colleague meant well and wasn't used to public speaking and writing tributes to fellow workers. This was someone I worked with the entire 20 years and kind of expected more. The many things that were important to me in my career were never mentioned. Most of the stories and anecdotes told about me were frivolous and personally meaningless to me in the larger view of my life and career. It was kind of sad that this was maybe what my colleagues thought of me and it certainly wasn't what I was expecting to hear. I felt bad that this was also what the larger campus community was seeing that was important to my colleagues. There was nothing about the things I felt were important during my 20 years working there for instance nothing was said about my implementation of technology or the change in library policies that I created to make the space more user friendly and comfortable. Nothing about our putting the first wireless system in a building on campus. Nothing about my work on creating the first website for the college. The list goes on and on. I think that I should now actually write the tribute I thought I deserved and put it here on these pages. Yes, my 20 year personal retrospective. I wish I would have vetted that retirement statement first and made some suggestions as to how I wanted to be remembered.

I should add however that I have been completely enjoying my time at being retired and have never once thought about or considered going back to work for any amount of time for any reason whatsoever. It took a couple of years but I don't think about my old job at all ever anymore. I missed the students for awhile and I missed the social aspect of working on a college campus but even that went away. The pandemic sealed those feelings even more as I thought about what it would have been like to be working during this plague. I feel so fortunate to be done with all of that and especially at this time. I also feel fortunate that we had at least the first three years of retirement to do things and travel without considering all of the horrible ramifications of today and the past year and a half. We went out to restaurants and bars at least twice a week and sometimes three times and also went out to see live music whenever we felt like it. That all certainly changed in a hurry. We I have a few friends that retired right before or during the pandemic and feel bad for them that they have not been able to enjoy their retirement to the fullest. I also look forward to when we can do all the things we want to do when we want to do them.