Reactions

With my retirement just 8 days away, I'm getting calls from many folks who have worked with me over the past few decades. We appreciated eachother while working on projects of old, and it's a delight to be hearing from them now. Invariably they ask (as do others who hear of my retirement) what I will be doing with 'all my free time.' The reactions, when I do reveal my plan to run from Boulder, Colorado to Petoskey, Michigan, are quite entertaining. There's the double take: ...pause... "you're what?" -or- as happened at a meeting yesterday "ah, run to Michigan" ...pause... "run from HERE to Michigan?!" (then "well, not the northern route tho', right?" - well, actually, yes, the northern route...funny that that is what raised the eyebrows around the table...). Many have had instantly positive responses: "You're running home!" "A road trip for your family!" "It will be so beautiful!" And my most favorite - which really captures the heart of this little adventure: "Your mind will be so happy." Indeed it will. Open road, big sky, nooks and crannies of prairie towns, rolling farms, ever-changing vistas. Breaking free of the confines of the desk-and-office. Happy mind, happy mind!