A New Adventure Begins

Across the Fence #497

After 46 years in the graphic arts, advertising, marketing, and public relations business, the time has come to close the door on those chapters of my life and open the door to the next chapter. On May 30th, I’ll be retiring. It’s time.

I’m the oldest of four children in our family. I think they were beginning to worry that I was never going to retire. They thought the oldest should retire first. My brother, David, finally retired last fall. I think he got tired of waiting for me to pull the plug. He’s been enjoying retirement and thinks everyone should try it. Now maybe my sister, Janet, can start thinking about retiring too. Brother Arden is still too young to retire. They probably hate when I mention them in stories, but I couldn’t ask for any better sister and brothers.

The "Sherpe Pose" at last summer's reunion.

L-R: Howard, Janet, Arden, and David

People ask me what I’m going to do with my time. Don’t worry, I’ll keep plenty busy. I’ve always been a workaholic. I think that work ethic was instilled in us at an early age, working on the farm. Anyone who grew up on a farm knows what I mean. One thing I’m looking forward to is getting away from the stress of constant deadlines that I’ve dealt with for over 40 years.

In case someone thinks I’m just going to sit around watching TV and vegetate, don’t worry, that’s not me. I plan to keep busy. I’ve never been able to just sit and do nothing. Even though I’m retiring from my day job, I still have all my evening and weekend jobs, only now I’ll be able to do them during daylight hours instead of at night when I’m mentally tired and worn out. Maybe that weariness has a little to do with age too. I hate to admit it but I don’t have the energy I used to have. I guess I’m not 21 anymore, or 31, or 41, or 51, or 61. Now I’m traveling down Highway 70, heading for Highway 71. Uff da, how did that happen so fast? I’m not complaining. At least I’m still traveling down the road and looking forward to new adventures.

Many people have been concerned that I was also going to retire from writing “Across the Fence” each week. Let me assure you that I plan to continue writing this column as long as I can, and as long as you want to read it and the publishers and editors want to run it. I’ve been very lucky being able to visit with you each week for the past ten years. 

Besides writing, I also have a book publishing business, Prairie Viking Press. I’ll continue that business and do more wood carvings like my Norwegian ancestors did. I’ll no longer be taking on commissions to do specific carvings for people. I’ve done hundreds of them over the years, but now it’s time to carve what I want to carve, when I want to carve it. I want to carve for fun and not deal with the deadlines of filling orders.

I don’t plan to let the grass grow under my feet. There are trout streams to explore, wildlife areas to hike and enjoy, and new places to discover. It will be easier to take off and visit our kids and grandson too. If I want to go and sit in our woods on a beautiful day and listen to the wind rustling the leaves of the trees, I’ll do it. The solitude of the woods is a great place to sit and write. Our back deck is also a great place for inspiration. Recently seven deer came up across the field from the pond and went across our back lawn. Last week I found what was left of a rabbit near our birdfeeder–one rabbit’s foot attached to a few bones. That certainly wasn’t a lucky rabbit’s foot for that guy. I suspect a coyote had a meal during the night. There are lots of stories just waiting to be told, all around us, every day. We just need to take time to listen and observe.

It’s been great working for Vernon Telephone Cooperative for the past seven-plus years. It’s a company where we care about the service we provide to our members. Those people are our neighbors “across the fence.” They don’t deal with some faceless person in a foreign country if they have a problem. I liked that personal feeling of knowing and helping our neighbors. For over thirty years my advertising business was built on providing personal service to my clients. Vernon Telephone has the same philosophy. It’s been a great place to work, but now it’s time to head off to the life of no alarm clocks, except the one in my head. 

There are some wonderful quotes regarding retirement. “Retirement is wonderful. You can do nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.” “Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.” “Retire from work, but not from life.” “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” Another quote I like regarding getting older: “First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to zip your fly; and then you forget to unzip your fly.” 

Retirement may be the closing of one door, but it’s also the opening of another door to a whole new adventure. I’m ready!

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