Last Man Standing

11th Anniversary at Jax11 years gets by much too quickly. Tammy and I celebrated our 11th anniversary at Jax Cafe' in Northeast Minneapolis Thursday night. I can't begin to express the richness and love that both she and Rachel have brought to my life. Dr Laura would never have given us the green light to marry considering how little time we knew each other when we married and because Tammy was a single parent whose primary focus was raising Rachel. I am forever grateful that we listened to our hearts.

Tammy was in the office yesterday and I had nothing much on my to-do list so after getting a late morning start I spent most of the day on my bike taking a route I hadn't been on in a few years. My main escape to the northwest (McColl Dr) is under construction so I'm left with county rd 42 or highway 13. I hadn't had my bike on 42 in a while and I probably won't again for another long while, at least not on a Saturday morning. There's way too many people pushing and shoving their way to spend tomorrow's money today and not much of a shoulder to work with.

It was a made-to-order day for cycling with temps in the low 80s and light winds. I considered staying out another couple hours but brought it home early with 111 miles done.  I used the extra time I had to do some bike maintenance in the garage while watching Cops and Myth Busters with the pups to keep me company. It was a relaxing end to my weekend.

Friday was Mike Deml's last day of work. We both hired on in the same input in March, 1982. While I had been exiled to Huron, SD for a couple years, Mike spent his entire career at Minneapolis Center as (just) a controller. Of the twenty-some people in our class, all are gone now except for me; I'm the last man standing. The first of our class to retire was Pat Guider and that must have been 7 or 8 years ago. Pete Brandt, Doug Ratfield and Jeff Ofthsun all left within the last few years.

I'd love to join them but I'm not one to wish my life away. I'll be there soon enough.

Best wishes, Mike. Enjoy your retirement—you've earned it!

Comments

Unknown said…
Congrats on the anniversary!
August 1, 2010 at 6:22 PM
Anonymous said…
Kevin
There is nothing wrong with being (just) a controller. I was in area 5 all my career. You will love retirement. It sounds like you are ready. You are NOT wishing your life away.
BG
August 1, 2010 at 9:46 PM
Kevin Gilmore said…
Bob...I didn't mean to imply that you or anybody who pulls the plug is wishing their life away. Tim D seemed to think that was how I came across. I'm not ready for this phase of my life to be over with; that's all. I do look forward to retirement but I'm once again enjoying going to work and it's been a while since I've been able to say that.
August 3, 2010 at 9:36 PM
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