The Joys of Retirement

From the Heart
by Raenell Wynn Smith

Gold pocket watch with hunter case and watch chain.
Photograph by Isabelle Grosjean

Well, here goes my first addition to the blog. I do hope you enjoy reading it.

Yep, as of the first of the year Jim is officially retired and on the loose about town during working hours. We laugh a lot about his excursions and adventures at his favorite hangout, Walmart. Who knows? Maybe they will hire him as a greeter. So on your visits to Childress he may be the first person you see when you enter Walmart.

We laugh a lot about his excursions and adventures. There are advantages to this as well, although I admit it is hard to leave him at the kitchen table drinking coffee while I leave for work. We do get to have lunch together everyday and he is getting pretty good at fixing grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Occasionally, he will finish the laundry, do things around the house like clean the vents, shower tile, clean out the garage and storage and at times has dinner ready when I get home. Yep, I think I could get used to having a "house husband".

Jim retired as Airport Manager at the Childress Airport, and worked for the City of Chldress for 24 years and three months. He was recently honored with a retirement party given by our children. Some of the band members that Jim played with in the past gathered and played for the event; Alan Magouirk, his son Jay, John Moss and Dickie Nations, Jacky Petty and also sitting in for awhile was Mike Heckathorn on the drums. We had a great time and Jim was thoroughly surprised. Good food, good friends and great fun.

Jim sang some of the oldies but goodies, (the real county music) and I was impressed that he still remembered all the words, but I guess there are some things you just don't forget, especially if you've sung them thousands of times. The surprise was a success and Jim just couldn't get over how everyone in town knew about it for weeks and he didn't have a clue. All of our children and 4 of our grandchildren were able to come; our daughter Kelley and husband Bobby Morris from Houston and her son Tyler Lane from Amarillo; along with our son Jeff and his wife Lauri and children Kambri, Jade and Straton from Amarillo and our son Todd, also from Amarillo.



Party Balloons

I do have to tell you a funny story. One of those mornings when I left for work Jim was sitting in the recliner drinking coffee and watching his favorite morning shows Fox and Friends and Good Morning America. I came home for lunch and he was sitting in the recliner. I came home after work and he was sitting in the recliner (do you see a pattern here?). I asked him how his day went and his response was "I really don't understand it, I've not gotten much done today." "Umm" was my remark, "I think I can enlighten you about that."

Retirement is looking good and in October, if all goes well, I plan to join him. We hope to travel more, be able to attend our grandchildren's events and visit those places that we've grown to love in this great county of ours such as Branson, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona and other places we've yet to see.

Until next time, this comes to you straight from my heart to yours.

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Blog Note: We want to make sure you all know to check the Bulletin Board appended down the right side of blog, if you haven't found it already. The Bulletin Board will be used to post short notes and notices of interest, such as the recent death of Charlene Beierschmitt Clouse's mother, a mention about JoAnn Lathram, upcoming blog features, and the most recent additions, the notice of the death of the father of Ricki Turner Greer (CHS Class of 1962) and a note from Phillip Tutor about his trip to Africa on February 18. Anyone who wants to send Phil an e-mail can click on his name at the end of his message.

As is the nature of a Bulletin Board, notices will be put up and taken down within a finite amount of time, so they will be frequently changing. We hope you will all develop the habit of checking there ... and that you will send us any notices or messages which you think would fit the format, as well as being pertinent and of interest to our readers. See you on Bulletin Board...

Also, we've had a couple of inquiries from people wanting to know how to access the comments, so for anyone who doesn't know.... At the end of each post, you will see an indication of "0 comments" or "3 comments" or whatever. Click on that and it will take you to the comments, and also a place where you can leave a comment of your own. Or, if you don't want to bother with that, just send an e-mail to Jennifer or Nicki with your comment and we will take care of it. Be sure to check the comments to see if any have been published since your last visit, as comments add so much to the blog ... and don't forget to leave one if the spirit moves....

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