Retirement

The drama of President Biden’s retirement is so sad. He is a very good man. In retrospect we all have a clearer understanding of how he could have done things better. He should have announced in November 2022 that he would not run for a second term.

His story raised in my own mind the question of when to stop, when to retire. My Dad retired when he was 60. For many years I planned to retire when I turned 65, which would have been in January of 2016. However, things were going well in my ministry in Sarasota in 2016. I stayed another four years, stopping when I was 69.

In retirement over two years, I cleaned and renovated the basement of our home in Maryland and took several enjoyable road trips. In 2022 there was a shortage of Unitarian Universalist Ministers, and I decided to help by taking an interim ministry in Media,Pennsylvania, 130 miles north of our home in Maryland. (Media’s slogan is “Everybody’s Hometown.”) After one year in Media, I retired again.

A year passed. We did more traveling to Canada, Arizona, Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont (to see the solar eclipse), California and Scotland. In June 2024 the Unitarian Universalist Association said there was still a shortage of ministers and one place that was looking was Prescott (slogan, “Everybody’s Hometown”). “You do not want to spend your life watching Netflix,” said my partner, Leslie Westbrook. I think this was an exaggeration, but she had a point.

I really love serving as your interim minister. I feel useful. However, living here reminds me that my dad died at the Prescott hospital in 2002 at age 82. I will be 82 in eight years. I am guessing that (with luck) I am good for about eight more years. I am going to give retirement another try, starting August 1. I will enter this new chapter in my life with very, very positive feelings, because of my wonderful year with all of you. Thank you.