Spring, Season of Graduation & Retirement

The Monday Topeka paper is normally an anemic 24 pages of left over ads and the comics. Most of the good stuff was used in the Sunday edition and other than a couple of car accident reports it doesn't have much that takes time to read. Today's paper had 8 pages of graduations. It started with the Universities and then moved on to the local High Schools. Lists of names sorted by city then alphabetically in page after page of mind numbing work if you were the poor slob assigned to get it all down and get it right. Yesterday was party central all over the State. I'll bet more people ate BBQ and beans yesterday than anything else. I for one had a big plate full of BBQ followed with a big ole' piece of COSCO Coconut cream pie washed down with several glasses of great iced tea. Other beverages were available but I declined. I barely made it to Lawrence and the Target store to visit the facilities. We had to stop and get a comb for the cake. Of course Barb wanted one that had not been used. Something about lining up the writing on a cake for the second half of this epistle.

The other sign of spring was highlighted by Barb's clock-radio going off early so she could get a cake off to one of her friends as she retired. Susan is the Librarian at Tecumseh South and Barb made a really lovely book cake. I would get invited to come to the library and read Dr Seuss every year and I read Hop on Pop, The Cat in the Hat and Horton the Who. Of the selection, Hop on Pop made my mind and mouth hurt the most. I loved it when the kids would laugh if I said something stupid. I'm sure that I made a couple of mistakes on purpose just for that joy. Barb and I share the common thought that almost half of the teachers we know are eligible to retire in the next five years. I know there needs to be room for the new and the old must leave. When I read the Guard Newspaper, I don't know any of the key players as all of my friends have retired.

When I was young, spring was a time for joy as it was the time for beer, parties and if I was lucky a little sex. Now that I am in the fall of my life, I will have to read about the parties and parting of others in the paper. It is a sad joy and I am partly happy and partly sad to see the changes. I do know, that so goes the rhythm of life and it will continue so until there is a time that someone writes a short obit about me and someone else will feel sad and joyful about that.

Some people make history, some people read history and most people just continue on un- effected. Have a great day out there.

MUD