After 3:30 pm this coming Friday, I will no longer "hafta" do anything. I am entering the new and somewhat scary world of retirement. I won't hafta get up at a certain time, I won't hafta go to work, and I won't hafta kiss specific anatomical parts of management behinds. Next Monday I am going to get up, have my coffee, take a shower and get dressed for work - I will then go to the back door, laugh hysterically, turn around, go upstairs, take off my clothes and go back to bed. Why? Because I can.....

The most important aspect is, of course, unlimited fishing time. We have a bike path here in C-bus that runs by a river and I'm thinking of doing a journal about the fishing spots along the way. On top of which, if things work out, I may end up with a parttime job at my local fly shop. I may have already died and gone to the good place.

I work with people in poverty and with this economy, we are adding to that population very quickly. I am so fortunate. As Mr. Gehrig said, "Today, I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."