It’s been seven years since we’ve returned to Decatur, Illinois. It is the city that welcomed me with open arms 13 years ago, but turned out to be my first step to retirement, as I exited with my tail between my legs. I’m staying at the Fairfield Inn, the place where I first really began to accumulate Marriott Rewards Points. It was my home for several months in the move here after Indianapolis, Zionsville, and Lafayette. I remember the excitement in coming here as the TV station’s new General Manager, and preparing for my first public speech to the community in the mirror of this very hotel. My wife would come on weekends, but we would have to move to the Comfort Inn across the street because of our dog Belle, who loved to ride the elevator in her old age. She was reluctant to move here, but supported my career. 

I had a big job ahead of me, one that would shape my future with the company, and I worked hard to endear myself to the three largest communities that formed our primary coverage area – Springfield, Champaign-Urbana, and Decatur. We wanted to take advantage of a flip in network affiliation that suddenly made us the NBC affiliate, with Newscenter 17 as our newly established slogan. In somewhat of a welcome surprise, my wife soon joined me as General Sales Manager of the station, a move that was more beneficial to me than to her. To make a long story short, after several years as a husband-and-wife team, our viewer ratings and revenue grew to the point where our parent company was able to profit from our sale. The new owners were not comfortable with our marital relationship and chauvinistically disrespectful of my wife’s exceptional sales & management skills. She quickly decided to accept a position with our former company down in Austin, Texas. It’s when I began to lick my wounds and started to “practice for retirement.”

The new owners decided that it was in their best interest to remove me from office, and even left me without a car to get home. I walked “the aisle of shame” out of the TV station and the city of Decatur, and to make matters worse the local economy made it impossible to sell our home for over 5-years. We made a lot of great friends in the area, people that we always stay in touch with, but that doesn’t totally get the “bad taste” out of my mouth. This is only humorous because the first noticeable thing about arriving in the town was the distinct “smell” of the corn processing plants. I was immediately told, “that’s the smell of money!”  Add that smell to the bad taste in my mouth, and it’s been a difficult sensory experience here the last couple of days. I’ve had no desire to go by the house or the station, but getting together with old friends was worth the detour here.

I’ve always maintained that this retirement blog is mostly a selfish endeavor. I enjoy doing it and it’s a lot cheaper than therapy. The computer is my couch, as I express my frustrations, accomplishments, goals, and hopes. Like many other people approaching the age of sixty, the job market shrinks, and chances for advancement diminish. My wife continues to see her career flourish at this age, but she’s the exception rather than the rule. The last seven years of my career were taxing and unrewarding. If it weren’t for the company that gave me the Decatur opportunity and the pension they provide for me in retirement, I would not be enjoying this time of my life. I wish things had turned out differently in Decatur, and I’m trying my best to let bygones-be-bygones. 

This trip was part of our spring Midwest Marriott Tour that has included a range of hotels from Fairfield to JW Marriott. Yesterday, we were 33-stories over Indianapolis in a luxury setting, and today we’re in the midst of a hot-asphalt parking lot surrounding the half-empty mall. The extreme in accommodations closely matches the ups-and-downs of my career, with the lowest point being my last days in Decatur. I did not realize until this morning that there is a brand new Residence Inn just across the street that would have made our stay a little more pleasant for just a few more points. Conversely, the extended stay at the Fairfield Inn in the first few months that I lived here was definitely one of the high points, as I prepared to seize  the opportunity of re-branding and re-organizing a “new” TV station. At that time, the “Smell of Success” was stronger!