"I'm Not Going To The House Quietly"

I remember a fella in my hometown who counted the days before he could retire.

Literally….You could ask him and he would say….”Four years, fourteen days.” He kept the countdown going in his head at all times.

Clearly he hated what he did for a living. Call me weird or call me very lucky…..I dread the prospect of retirement. I will fight it. They will have to get security to escort me off the campus and have someone else pack my belongings. Maybe I too closely identify myself with my job. My job is me. My career provides me with much of my self-worth. Heaven help Carol if I were ever told to head to the house…and heaven help her when that inevitable day comes.

I have to be honest and say that I never considered the prospect of “College President” when I was a little fella riding my bike to the village swimming pool or even when I was barely scraping by in high school algebra. But I did have plans.

I was going to be a sports writer and have my picture on the top of the daily column. After I did that….

I was going to become the next Woodward….or Bernstein by exposing crooked politicians at a major American newspaper.

After that, I was content to be the new generation’s answer to Edward R. Murrow.

Next I wanted to own a broadcast empire with radio stations all over the country…

It was a great step back to just be an instructor of radio…but I soon decided I could be a professor if I could just navigate a couple of more academic degrees.

Then, being a Dean was cool. I could die being a dean at a college. I loved my college….and I thought I could stay there forever.

But why settle for being a Dean when I could run one of these suckers?

And after I got the title and the corner office, it was time to find a place where I could really try to make a difference.

Wella….Western Texas College. I’m here and I find Texas and WTC to be a very good fit these days. I can do this…

That’s how I got here. It only took 25 years and I don’t want it to end. I don’t have any “next step” in mind but you never know with these kinds of jobs. Just because I worry about the future…I have been doing some research on the topic of retirement. Here’s what I have found…

Mark Twain had this to say…..”Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, “Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to.”

I agree with Fosdick. I will have to find another career….eventually.

How about sports writer? I can have my picture on top of the column.

There’s certain symmetry to that idea.

Don’t ya think?