Celebration

Tomorrow I retire, today we celebrate. This is the day chosen for a reception so folks can come by and wish me well. I have expected it for some time and knew it was coming but I am not really ready. Oh I am ready to get on with retirement, (I think) but this will be an emotional time of goodbyes and farewells and those are difficult and I doubt that we are ever really ready for those moments. So even though it will be emotional, and I am not sure I am 'ready', today I will celebrate. Celebrate life, for God has allowed me 69 years and they have been good ones in spite of what I have done with them. Celebrate failure, for it is only through attempting and failing that we learn the hard lessons of life, God simply smiles and asks if we would like to try again. He always forgives. Celebrate success, because I have had a bit of that in my chosen career. Celebrate the future, I have no idea what it holds but I do know that it is completely in God's hands. As I open myself to His plan, He will provide all I need for the future.

Retirement is not an end in itself, but a beginning of change in ones life. Most of us are afraid of change and especially one so drastic, but I for one am excited about this change and what God may do in my future.

Stay tuned...