My wife retired from full time employment last Friday after ten years at the local YMCA. I’m celebrating her accomplishments with this blog post (among other things like dinner, wine, flowers and chocolate!).
She started her working career in high school, as so many
have, at McDonalds. Didn’t enjoy
coming home smelling like hamburgers, so switched to retail at Sears. There, all the older ladies
smoked so she came home smelling like an ashtray. Pick your poison, I guess.
;-)
Put herself through school on that job at Sears – at a private Christian college outside of
Chicago, no less! With a few grants and a couple of gen ed courses from a
community college, she graduated with a BA
in Elementary Ed without taking a loan. She’d started saving for college in
the eighth grade!
We got married at the end of our junior year, had a baby
right before graduation, and then we moved to Philadelphia for my seminary.
There she taught 2nd grade at a private
Christian academy in North Philly in exchange for about 9k a year! We were
living large.
After the birth of our second child, we moved to western PA,
where I served as a pastor. She entered the field of social work with a
position at Family Preservation Services.
She also did a bit of retail again; part time at a Hallmark store so she could buy me Star Trek ornaments on discount!
A full time mom and "pastor's wife" (sans piano
playing), my wife earned her MEd at nearby
Slippery Rock University. (Yes, such a place exists! And we're still on
their mailing list despite asking them to save a tree.)
When we moved to Kansas twenty-six years ago, my accomplished
life-partner continued her career in non-profits with positions at Early Head Start and Mental Health Services. She then
transitioned to becoming the Director of
Operations at a private special education clinic and school, serving in
that position for ten years.
At this point, her interest in ultramarathoning and physical fitness led her to obtain her
nationally recognized ACSM certification
for personal training. (And when I say interest, I mean passion! A few years
back I crewed for her as she completed a few 12- and 24-hour events as well as
a 50 miler or two!)
With certificate in hand, she joined a local branch of the YMCA as a trainer, working her way up through
the ranks to Senior Program Director.
She has now concluded her career there and is retiring from close to forty
years of full time employment.
Man, time flies since I first fell in love with that
teenager I met orientation weekend in college! She’s as beautiful today as she
was then and I’m so excited to celebrate her accomplishments. Even more excited
to enter this next chapter of our lives
together.
Well, on February 1 we’ll announce a new website, Facebook
page, Instagram account, etc. (expanding to YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and more
as time allows) in order to focus on
travel, transformation, and wellness.
Not planning to be social media influencers, per se, just
sharing our journey into this next wonderful era of active living and
encouraging others to live the good life along the way.
And we’re moving!
But more on that next week. Until then, join me in
celebrating my wife’s successful career path that has led to a much-earned
change of pace and transition to a new phase of life.
Love you, babe. Congrats!
(Picture disclosure! Roses were from a client, Paso Robles wine is from my brother and sister-in-law in California, and the local artisan chocolate is what my wife bought me for Christmas which I'm giving back to her for retirement! And our carry-out celebration dinner? She earned that with coupon points. But don't you worry, I’ma gonna get her something. I just have to think...)
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