This afternoon’s “Leadership Meeting” went well. We’re not really sure how many participants it takes to form a “Leadership Convention,” but the most that have attended at one meeting has been six. I’m the self-proclaimed leader of organizing these weekly leadership meetings. Most of the attendees are former business leaders, but we do include a couple of current workplace leaders to remind us how good it is to be retired.  It also keeps us up to date on the state of the current work environment, so we don’t get completely out of touch with the business world. We often talk about comings and goings, which include those who unfortunately pass away, as we enter the obituary stage of life – where we check the daily obituaries to make sure that we’re not in there. I mentioned to the other attendees today that a former Indianapolis business leader, a former radio station General Manager, lost his battle with cancer earlier this week at the disturbing age of 66 – my age. It makes you feel very vulnerable, and you can only joke about it, while feeling fortunate to still be alive.

I still having trouble remembering to use only one space between sentences, having the old-fashioned way of including two spaces exposed in a recent article.  My wife also pointed out that I was wasting paper, shelf space, and binders to print copies of this blog.  My old fashioned way of thinking does not allow me to trust the cloud, preferring to have a printed record of each of my blog posts. I’m probably also a bit vain, thinking that my son might someday want a copy of my musings.  I would love to have a written diary or a record from my mom and dad, even though they did leave me an overabundance of family and personal photos. My sister has my dad’s war diary somewhere in her possession, but has yet to find it. Even though these hand-me-downs weren’t meaningful a few years ago, I’m glad I didn’t dispose of them. I feel that part of retirement is taking the time to organize family history, and to write about personal experiences, hoping they just might be interesting to others.

The Cubs have been eliminated, so that gives me less to write about.  It was a great season, filled with hope about back-to-back good fortune, The Dodgers put an end to that pipe dream, but gave themselves a chance to end their own 29-year drought of not winning a World Series. The Houston Astros are currently avoiding potential elimination by the Yankees as I write.  Watching baseball provides a great opportunity to multi-task, not having to totally focus on the screen.  You can even many times take a nap and not miss a thing.

My wife came home and took a nap after a long week of work.  It reminded me that the weekend is here. It’s still hard to believe that I no longer have to look forward to them, with the exception of spending more time with her. I didn’t even know it was Friday today until I had to dodge some neighborhood trash containers during my run this morning.  Hopefully, the rain will hold off and the dogs will get a little more exercise this weekend.  They are not as content as I am to hang around the house all day, and look forward to their weekend jaunts through the nearby park. Happy weekend everyone who’s not retired!