James Etheridge

At 6:00 pm yesterday, after working since I was sixteen and following a career in graphic arts and printing, which began forty-five years ago at DeKalb Technical College, I officially retired.  It has been a great ride and I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful and talented people, as well as the unpleasant experience of working with a few unspeakable jerks.  But, the good far outweighed the bad and I was indeed fortunate to earn a living doing what I loved.

There are things I am looking forward to, things that I won’t miss and things I will miss.

First and foremost, I am looking forward to Jackie and I spending the rest of our lives together. She has stood by me in every direction my work has taken and I love her deeply for it.  There have been ups and downs, but we have been fortunate enough so far to always land on our feet.  I will always be grateful for her love and support.  It’s time to give back to her and for us to enjoy traveling, walking the dogs, spending time with family and friends and the two of us just being together.  I just hope that after a couple of months she doesn’t wake up one morning, look at me and say, “You know, you need to find a job.”

I’m eager to concentrate on creative projects, joining a gallery or two and becoming more involved in my online writer’s group.  I’m looking forward to working in the yard and around the house, tending to our backyard birds, catching up on reading, playing golf with friends and finally learning to use our smoker.

What I won’t miss most of all is the commute.  I have worked in virtually all parts of the metro Atlanta area and have seen the traffic progress from moderate to heavy to ridiculous to downright deadly.  At this point, a forty-five minute commute in the morning becomes a two-hour crawl in the evening.  It’s beyond brutal. In all the years I drove to and from work on every major expressway, along with the side roads and thoroughfares, I was never involved in an accident. Not even a fender bender. I saw a lot of insane and unbelievable things, but somehow, due to what I can only attribute to divine intervention and luck, I managed to avoid being hit or ran over by a knucklehead in a Dodge or on a crotch rocket.

I worked for one of the largest companies in the world and will not miss the corporate bullshit.  I could write volumes on that subject, but it speaks for itself.

I will miss my co-workers.  Over the years, I have made many lifelong friendships through work and have had the great fortune to be associated with and learn from many talented and professional people.

I miss when it was fun to go to work. Those days are long gone.  When it gets to the point where it becomes drudgery and you have to force yourself to get up and go in, that’s when it’s time to hang it up.

What lies ahead?  I don’t know, but after forty-five years I am ready to find out.  Today is literally the first day of the rest of our lives.  Time to get Writing and Rolling.