The Last Day

By: Doug Roland

Friday is my last day of full-time active employment. No one prepared me, nor could they, for this. I received my first social security card around 1958. I still have it, though, like my hair, it is no longer the same color. My first entry into full-time work was January, 1967, at Franklin Junior High School, Franklin, Indiana. The thought of eventually studying the law and practicing for 35 years had not entered my thinking.

When I was growing up, people retired with gold watches, hails and farewells. I don't really care about the watch, but I have always thought the prospect of sleeping in, having time to do whatever I wish, and studying about things I always wanted to know, would be greeted with giddy anticipation. But it hasn't. Rather, a mild depression has set in and surprised me.

Many retirees are soon bored. That is not a concern as we prepare to go to South Africa for two years. That thought is thrilling enough at any time of life. I think it has more to do with separation from my co-workers. As many years as I have been working, I understand that when the workplace is no longer shared, the friendship dissipates. It's human nature. The last 14+ years have been in the same firm, one that has tripled in size during those years. Bonds have been formed with many people. Most of the ties are dependent on daily hello's and small chats. Oh, I can tell myself that I will call, e-mail and stop by from time to time. But the cold truth is that I will become irrelevant after awhile - the nice old guy who used to work there.

That will not, however, prevent me from treasuring those years when I walked daily through the building, hoping, that in some measure, I might bring a little light to someone's day.

I am excited beyond belief to begin the next chapter of my life sharing what skills and wisdom I may have accumulated over the decades. But I will not welcome that slow, stubborn, and permanent departure from the people I see each working day, each year.