As I write this I am in the midst of doing something I’ve never really done before. I’m retiring – and this time I mean it.
Fifty years ago, I wrote my first freelance story. It was about the new volunteer fire department that was forming in Ester, Alaska. Since they didn’t have a fire house yet, members of the new department met in the Howling Dog Saloon. They had their meeting and I got my interviews for the story and took a few photos. Then I had a beer with them, went back home and wrote the story and developed the photos.
It appeared in The All Alaska Weekly, a newspaper published in Fairbanks. The owner, a guy named Tom Snapp, wrote out a check for $100 and I have been involved in journalism ever since. I have worked at the largest newspaper in Alaska, and the smallest. I’ve published a newspaper in rural Minnesota and edited a newspaper that covered agriculture across 400,000 square miles of the West.
I have interviewed a lot of crazy people, too, and not just politicians. One was a defrocked priest who made wine out of powdered milk. Another thought the rain would stop if we just cut down all of the trees.
And I’ve loved (almost) every minute of it.
I’ve retired before, too, but I always found my way back into a newsroom. This time, however, I probably will stay retired, at least for a while.
It’s just that I can’t stop. Working, that is. I’m one of those guys who can’t sit still. I can do it for a while, but then I start to twitch and look for something to do.
It might be messing with the cars, or working on the house, or God knows what else. The odds of me sitting around and doing nothing hover between slim and none.
But overall, my goal is to dial down my work life and dial up my relaxing life. The 10- and 11-hour days have gotten the best of me. When I get home I am usually too tired to do fun stuff. Or anything else, for that matter.
To me, that’s the time to pull the plug.
The question I need to answer is, what do I plan to do instead of work? Here’s my list.
• Write two books. I’ve been thinking about them for years. Now’s the time to do it. Just like my other books, they won’t sell, but writing them will keep me off the street.
• Keep writing columns and compile them in a book, or shopping bag, so my kids can have them if they need to start a fire. I’ve written weekly or monthly columns since 1992, so I have a lot of them. You do the math.
• I started a little side gig on ebay buying and selling autographed photos of movie stars, so I’ll keep that going. Let me know if you’re in the market for a signed photo of Raquel Welch.
• I have been lax in exercising. Most days I get in a walk, or two, but I need to step it up. Watch out, Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Speaking of which, we have a big pile of firewood in need of splitting. Watch out, Paul Bunyan!
Travel is also on the list. I have an “I” list of places I want to go. It’s all of the countries that start with the letter “I” – Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, India and Indonesia.
I also love to take road trips. My wife and I have friends and relatives all over the place, so some day we’ll just hop in the Honda and head out.
I also like to pick up new skills. I’m too old to learn to fly a plane, so I’m looking for something equally interesting.
Like bull-riding.
Carl Sampson is retiring from his “day job,” not his column. He lives in Stayton.
