"In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer in "Letters and Papers from Prison"

By this time next week, I will be retired. I plan to write one more essay then to reflect on the loved ones who make my life so very special, and to look forward to the years of retirement ahead. Today, I’m looking back to thank my loved ones, mentors, friends, and colleagues for all they’ve done to help me throughout my career. They’ve helped me grow, professionally and personally. They’ve helped me through the hard times by being there for me with compassion, encouragement, comfort, and advice. They’ve increased my joy and peace in the good times, making them sweeter by sharing them with me.

I am a very fortunate man. I have spent the past 40 years or so working with people of good character who have made these working years more rewarding, and satisfying. With their intelligence and wisdom, they have taught me. Helping me gain the skills and knowledge I needed to program, configure, and maintain the computers I’ve worked with, and to become an effective manager and leader for the people who share this work. With their creativity and skill, they have been my partners in solving the fascinating, and frustrating, problems we’ve faced, and in finding solutions to improve the services we’ve offered.

With their patience, compassion, and courage, they have stood with me as we survived lean times, layoffs, and other crises in the workplace. With their strength and humanity, they have helped me through personal loss and illness. They have encouraged me in my efforts to find a way to do the demanding work I must while learning to manage the stress that threatened my health. With their gentle kindness, they have helped me celebrate milestones in my career, and shared the joy and satisfaction of our accomplishments together.

This past Wednesday, my great colleagues at the university came together to host a very moving, and fun, celebration of my years here, and to wish me well in my retirement. I was touched by the many kind and lovely things they had to say about me, my work, and my influence on them and our shared mission. I’ve always found it difficult to accept praise. Given how much I trust and admire these fine people, I did my best to simply appreciate, and believe, their kind words. As one of my very best friends wrote to me about this special time, I will treasure the memory of that afternoon, and “remember all those true and kind words”. It was all that I could have hoped for, and more. I am deeply grateful and happy. I will miss these people and look forward to seeing them again.

I have grown with the guidance of several wonderful mentors over the years. Their insightful questions, helpful challenges, abiding confidence, and enduring impact on my choices have helped me grow in every aspect of my professional life. Their examples have also served to shape my approach to my personal life and relationships. They have helped me learn to do the work I must while honoring my deep commitment to the loved ones who are my reason for working. I have also had the opportunity to mentor many great colleagues over the years, and I know I have gained at least as much from the time we’ve shared together as they have. As I have helped them learn about themselves, they have taught me so much.

My many years as a volunteer with SHARE (www.share.org) remain one of the best things I’ve done in my professional life. Learning with my friends and colleagues there was so satisfying as we worked together to provide enterprise computing professionals with the best training, networking, and opportunities to influence the industry. Volunteering there gave me valuable experience, and I found lifelong friends in the process. I first learned each skill I was to use as a manager at the university as a volunteer with the SHARE projects, and as a member of their board of directors. We worked so well together, and with such respect and dedication. When the work was over, we played well together, too. Some of our best travel opportunities over these years were thanks to my work at SHARE!

Throughout these years of work, I’ve enjoyed the company of many wonderful friends. They have helped make the good times better, and the hard times easier. We come together in our shared enjoyment of making music, making things from wood and iron, and making beer. We come together in a shared commitment to volunteering at SHARE and Yosemite National Park, and in the work we shared together at the university. We come together in our local community, and across the miles. As the years of working in my profession come to an end, I know the friendships that have helped make these years wonderful will continue into retirement.

I am especially thankful for my family, and all my loved ones. It is with them that I find my greatest joy, satisfaction and love. They are the ones whose love and strength have sustained me in my darkest hours, and the ones with whom I share, and who bring me, my greatest times of happiness and peace. My sisters, brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, nieces, nephew, and their families. The special beloved friends who have become family, and family that have become dear friends to me. As I look forward to retirement, having more time with these dear ones, and my dearest beloveds, is what I hope for most.

Of all my good fortune, the best part of my luck is having found my wonderful Sue, and our raising our two fine sons together. With her, I have become my best self. She has made it safe for me to offer myself at my best, and challenged me in the most wonderful ways to grow and flourish in love. I am so very proud of the fine person that she is. Of her creative fire, deep strength and compassion, fine intelligence, gentle wisdom, and warm strong love. I am so happy with her. I am so proud and grateful for our sons. They are strong, funny, kind, and dedicated to doing what is right. They are good men who are growing in their goodness. I am a very lucky man to be part of this family.

I look forward to sharing love and wonder with my beloved friends and family as we continue to grow together in the years ahead. Walking in the forests and the mountains, and along the shores. Gazing up at the stars, and into the faces of our loved ones. Sharing the joy that is ours as we come together, and the sweet memories we make. May the happy times when our laughter rings together filling the air with music, and the quiet times when the deep comfort of our love brings us contentment and tranquility, fill these years ahead with joy.

I also took a moment this weekend to record a version of John Hartford's wonderful song, "In Tall Buildings". You can find that recording on YouTube at https://youtu.be/b1PUKyhB2c4 I surely am looking forward to retirement and coming home!

© 2017 James Michael. The text of this work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0