Out with the old, in with the new

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’”  - Alfred Lord Tennyson

For you Ed, and for all of us, I hope that it is happier.  

2016 had some fairly big events for me.  I decided to go back to school (and did!), made a commitment to RAGBRAI (and did it!), got a dog, started going to counseling, bought TWO new bikes, and started a new job.  I guess when I line it all up like that, it seems pretty significant.  As usual, there were weeks I found myself saying, “I just need to get through this week,” but then there were other times when I felt like I must be missing something, just because I had a lot of time to choose what I wanted to do.  

I’m not sure how I’ll feel about 2017 next January.  The monumental task that I have before me in this new year is a thesis.  I need to identify a topic soon and start my research.  My goal is to graduate in the summer of 2018 when my classes are finished.  I don’t want to have to ask for more time to finish my thesis.  

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about my Navy retirement.  Most of the feedback I get from the people that have retired before me is that it’s never too early to start preparing, so that’s what I’m doing.  I am scheduled for a retirement brief in February, which is a requirement to attend the one-week retirement preparation class, which I will hopefully attend sometime this year as well.  It’s a little bit scary to me to think I could be retiring as early as Spring/Summer of 2018 if the Navy decides that they won’t let me finish out my 30 years in Maryland.  Regardless of whether it’s 2018 or 2020, the planning has started.  I’m dreading things like LinkedIn, resumes, etc.  But it must be done.

My social calendar for 2017 is probably a bit ambitious.  I’m hoping to make it to Colorado and San Diego/LA at some point this year.  I’d love to squeeze in some time in Monterey, CA (we have some friends there and I haven’t been back since 1989), and I have an old Navy friend in Louisiana that I’ve been hoping to see for years.  The last two are doubtful considering I am definitely taking a week to ride from Pittsburgh to DC, and I may have to use two weeks of vacation for college (if the Navy won’t give me that time) this summer.  First world problems.

I know we aren’t very consistent with this blog, but I do enjoy the shared history that it writes for us, regardless of where any of us lives.  Happy New Year guys, I love you both very much.