What a Send Off!

My OBS family gave me the perfect send off ~ over 100 friends (even a few from the distant past from Amtrak and Caltrans) and family gathered for a wonderful picnic-themed lunch. The food was great, the association with so many wonderful people fantastic and the laughter even greater...all at my expense, but I would have expected nothing less.

Christine, my real boss for nearly 40 years, along with our kids Mike, his wife Amanda and their daughter AnnMarie, Jon and his wife Stephanie and our daughter Beth were all there. They had a blast and were quickly made welcome as part of the OBS family.

Stacy, our illustrious Associate Director, hosted the spectacular event with Joseph, one of our contract managers, acting as the honorable master of ceremonies. Both did a great job in their insightful and funny comments.

I was honored to have Martin, CDCR's Undersecretary attend and offer some very kind, albeit undeserved comments. He also made a special presentation on behalf of the Secretary, which took me totally by surprise! Then the real fun began as Lucy and Vicki, members of the OBS leadership team, offered the Top Ten List of Steveisms ... it was hilarious and ones that everyone could relate to, even my family. I tried to download a video of them; however, ran into some problems ~ will try again later. The program ended with the OBS choir singing "You Don't Mess Around with Steve." I'll try to download that video as well.

The grand send off occurred on Tuesday, June 28 when much to my surpirse the OBS family gathered in the parking lot while "Hail to the Chief" was played as I walked out to my car. To say the least, it was a tearful and difficult experience pulling away that day.

To my OBS family ... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ... I could not have asked for a better send off!

Retirement is Just a Few Days Away....

Retirement is now just a few days away. It is both exciting and terrifying to think about. No doubt there is nothing to be afraid for Chris, my sweetheart for over 42 years, and I have always enjoyed being together and there are so many fun times ahead for us. We plan to spend as much time as possible with the grandkids, hiking the trails of the Sierra and serving a few missions for the Church.

The sad part of retiring is recognizing there are many friends and business associates I will likely never see again as life takes each of us down different paths. It is my hope that maintaining this blog will help us stay in contact even if only electronically. To all of you ~ thank you for the years of friendship and support.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

4 July 2011

Retired ~ Off and Runnin"n

"Life begins at Retirement"