Dear Class of ’73
After reading Ruth’s family update, I decided it was time for me to do the same.
Julie and I both retired in January. I was going to finish at the end of the school year but after having a student release a toxic substance in my classroom with the entire school being evacuated and the administration doing nothing, I decided it was time for me to leave. I pretty much caught them by surprise and I have no regrets. I sort of left with a sour taste in my mouth but have not missed it one day. 31 years in the classroom, I guess my shelf life had expired.
We are currently preparing to sell our house and will probably move to the Ocala area. It is a little slower pace and people are generally much more pleasant to be around. We also need to be closer to Julie’s dad who lives in that area. Going though 30 years of stuff both ours and the kids has proven to be a task. We have filled one bedroom and more stuff in the garage. We are planning a yard sale in a few weeks, hopefully get rid of lots of stuff we have no desire to move.
After being retired for 4 months and doing something most days, it is hard to believe we got so much done on the weekends prior to retirement. Doing chores and fix ups on our own pace seems to get a better result and allows us to make better decisions. We spend at least 2 times a week playing golf and enjoying our time together. We also try to do things we never had time to do previously.
Our kids are doing great. Ben, the oldest, is still in DC working as an engineering analyst for the FDOT. He is such a prolific reader, the job fits him to a tee. We have visited there a number of times and always find some new and interesting things to see or do. I highly recommend DC as a vacation spot. Many really great museums are free and are so interesting to visit. Ben is still unmarried but has been seeing a lady for some time, so who knows.
Ben recently came down with several of his friends. He came by to get some boxes he has had stored in our garage for the last 15 years. He was surprised he had so much stuff. It was mostly action figures and comic books. He took some special things and left the rest for us to sell. So we have probably 100 action figures of which I have no idea what they are or what they are worth, looks like a fire sale to me
Quin, the youngest, is in Orlando working in IT for Hilton Hotels. We do get a savings on friends and family at their locations. He is currently living with a long time girlfriend. They bought a house in one of the suburbs and seem to be happy. We see him whenever we go north to visit Julie’s dad.
We have not taken a long trip yet, as we are still getting our retirement monies put together. We got lined up with a great pair of financial advisors from Morgan Stanley and so far have proven their worth. We also have an old Golden Retriever and getting a house/dogsitter has become something of a task. Whenever we travel north we do drop him off at Quin’s, but he has his life and is not always available. We have never had him doggie daycare feeling it would just kill him. At nearly 13 he just wants to hang out with us. He is not a great traveler, so we will just go with the flow.
Our lives have been really great. We have traveled a lot and enjoy each others company. We will celebrate our 42nd anniversary this summer. We tend to think in a similar fashion and are willing to do things together. At the end of May , we will go to St.Louis for a niece’s graduation. We are taking Julie’s dad, which will be a challenge as he is a typical grumpy old man. At 88 he will only take one more trip after that. At the end of July we are going to a family reunion if northern South Dakota. The adults from Julie’s family are all getting together at a VBRO. We will then go to IC for a family get together with my family. Unfortunately, we have to be back in Florida, or we would stay for the C/O ’73 reunion. After nearly 3 weeks on the road, I am sure we will need to be home