Last days

There seems to be several "last days" to my process of retirement.  My last official day of employment is December 31.  But I have the usual vacation days left to take between Christmas and New Year's.  So my last day in the office was Christmas Eve.  The desk drawers are empty, the bookshelves are bare, and the desk top has only the computer, phone, and Kleenex box.

It's the end of one experience and the beginning of a new adventure.  

Retirement Party

It was something I never expected - a retirement party!  But when the talk and the planning started . . . Well, I never expected the result.  Sure, I helped when asked about pictures and information of the past, but never expected what came to pass. 

It was held on a Tuesday evening at the Sky Lobby near the top of Chase Tower.  The gala started at 5:30pm, and by 6pm, it seemed like the Sky Lobby was filled. I was thrilled to see a former physics student from Wagoner High School - Mitch! 

Our CEO, Scott Rees started the evening.

Scott talked about some of my past work and gave some very nice praise for my work.  I was quite honored.  Scott presented me with a Garmin Monterra and a gift certificate to REI.  Wow! 

I was almost speechless.  Dan Walker, my supervisor, was next. 

I had a premonition that Dan planned a "roast", and he did.  It was funny and in good humor, but then he started talking about my work at NSAI.  Wow again!  Dan presented me with a gift - a brass Brunton compass and "retirement T-shirts"!  The Brunton was beautiful!  I got choked up.  Dave Adams, a reservoir simulation engineer, was next.  Dave told of times when I struggled to keep up with the demands for reservoir simulation computing.  Dave had a little bag of tools to help describe his tale.  The last to speak was Mitch. 

Mitch told of his time with me as a high school senior and some of my antics in the classroom.  And last, Cindy presented me with a present from our daughter, Crystal, who had sent it to her earlier.  T-shirts and a neat drawing by our granddaughter Ashley.  Then it was my turn to speak.  I think I only choked up once.  I thanked everyone and kidded around with Dan and Mitch.  The party that was supposed to last until 7pm, but we ran over a bit.  It was 9pm before we left!  Wow!

The party was way more than I expected, and something I'll never forget. Thank you to everyone at NSAI, to Mitch, to our daughter Crystal and granddaughter Ashley, and to my lovely wife, Maureen, who has shared this journey with me.

Fur children

Exactly why do we call them pets?  Sometimes they should be called "pests"!  But as one's children grow, mature, and start lives of their own, we humans seem to adopt and anthropomorphize our pets, specifically dogs, into fur children.

We are no exception.  We have three Chihuahuas that we have rescued and each has their own story.

Chica was lost.  She was about 3 pounds and about 18 months old.  I was working in the yard, and she came out of the hedge looking for food, love, and care.  She has definitely found all that and more.

Bonita was rescued by Treasured Friends.  A lady I worked with, Karin, was active with that group.  Bonita was found at the bottom of a large crate with three large dogs.  The crate had been dropped on the steps of the Mansfield animal shelter during the night.  She had heartworms, a skin bacterial infection (and no hair on her body), and who knows what else.   She was 30 minutes from euthanasia when Karin picked her up.  With excellent care, she was nursed back to health.  Karin thought of us as the best home for Bonita.

We got Bootsie from the funeral home in Enid, OK after Maureen's father passed.  Maxwell, one of the funeral directors, had rescued a medium-sized dog and Bootsie when a lady passed away.  When Maxwell saw our other Chihuahuas, he knew he had found a good home for the Boots.  And let it be known, Bootsie is a character!

Preparation

Maureen retired first after 38 years of teaching.  Her last 15 years had been spent in the elementary Gifted/Talented classroom. 

She took the helm of preparing the house to be sold.  Quite the daunting task!  Over the next year, we sorted, cleaned, donated, painted, and stored.  Of course, there were some items we wanted to store, so we rented a 10'x15' controlled climate storage room at U-Haul.  (Hope to never see our unit on "Storage Wars"!)  After a year, we decided to list the house and continue the task of sorting, etc.  Afterall, it takes several months before a house sells, right?  Wrong!  And I even thought we had listed the house too high!  We had a full asking price offer within 40 hours!  And had to close in 20 days!  We were not ready!

Somehow, at the end of that month, we had finish moving out, stored what we wanted, and donated or trashed the rest.  We were now full-timers in our DRV Elite Suites.  I still had 19 months before retirement, and I counted down each day and month.  We located ourselves at Destiny RV Park in Denton.  It's a great park staffed with great people who are very friendly.  We will miss Destiny when it's time to leave. 

Ah, the past . . .

Maureen and I have always loved to travel.  Like many, we started talking long ago about traveling when we retire.  About ten years ago (around 2004), we started attending the RV shows held in Dallas each spring and fall.  We had done some camping, but it had been a long time ago!  And it was roughing it camping!

But times pass, and this time we wanted something better than a very used, minimal pop-top tent trailer, 9'x12' tent, and a 10'x10' tarp awning.  So we searched and researched RVs, finally settling on looking at fifth wheels.  Then it dawned on us, what if we joined the others who actually full-timed in their RV?  Then the search took a whole different meaning.  In 2010, we purchased our first fifth wheel - a Keystone Alpine.  But it soon became apparent that there were many issues with the Alpine besides the fact it was not meant for full-timing.


Besides modifying the Alpine to add tank heaters and fully insulating the underbelly, the "last straw" came when the bed sheared the screws that held it to the slide - and the bed detached from the slide!  We had still been researching fifth wheels and realized that our choice was a fifth wheel from DRV.  We spent a whirlwind trip one October Thursday and Friday to fly from Dallas to Chicago, then drove out to Howe, Indiana to take a factory tour of the DRV plan on Friday morning.  By late Friday evening, we were back in Dallas.  But after that tour, we knew we could full-time in a DRV!


We decided on a DRV Elite Suites 38RSSB3 fifth wheel with some customization.  Looks great, doesn't it?

Retirement fast approaching!

Yes, after many years, retirement is fast approaching.  Am I ready to give this up?