Yes. I’m retired, as of June 30, 2020. I’m trading my desk chair in for a back porch recliner.

This is actually my second retirement. In 2000 I left my position at a crisis center in Nashville, Tennessee, drew my Social Security, and moved with my 10-year old son to a small town in Arkansas where he could live in a neighborhood, ride his bike to school, and we could both be near family. After a  year or so of stay-at-home I decided, for economic reasons, I should work a few more years. I was certainly healthy enough to do that.

I was fortunate to land a job at Wilbur D. Mills Education Service Cooperative about a mile from my house. If you don’t know what an E.S.C. is, you should research it.  They provide an enormous service to Arkansas Schools. I was 67 years old. I can still hardly believe the Literacy Specialist I worked for and came to love and admire, hired a secretary old enough to be her mother.

I had thought the crisis center position was my dream job. I loved supporting therapists who helped victims of crimes.  I was contributing to a worthwhile effort.

But I soon found that being a secretary at the Co-op was a dream job, too. Eighteen years flew by.  Now it’s time for me to call it a career.

I hardly have words to express how I feel.  And I’m a writer!

May I borrow (and paraphrase) words from poet Conrad Aiken?

“Music I heard with you was more than music,
And bread I broke with you was more than bread.”

To my co-workers at WDMESC:

“The work we did together was more than a job, it was a calling. We were more than co-workers, we were family. We laughed together and prayed for each other. Sometimes we disagreed. Often we rolled our eyes. Being at WDMESC was a special time for me and I will always cherish the friendships I made there. I love you guys.

And don’t forget to turn in your schedules.”

Okay. Life of leisure here I come… unless another dream opportunity comes along.

Thanks to those who played along. Hope you enjoyed the trivia game. Here are answers for yesterday’s quotes:

16. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Classic last line) 

17. Babe (The one about the pig)

18. Dr. Strangelove (Never saw this movie) 

19. Bonnie and Clyde (The last 3 minutes – a guess – of this film was the ambush on B&C that left them and their car full of holes. This was said by the man who was the bait and they stopped to help.)

20. The Odd Couple  (A pretty cute play that was made into an okay movie and a terrible TV sit com and then a worse one.) 

Thanks again for visiting my blog! 

Yesterday’s answers to exit lines from the large screen: 

11. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (one of my favorites)

12. Love Story

13. Animal House (Never saw this movie)

14. On Golden Pond (Another favorite)

15. Back to the Future

Well, this has been fun. Here are the last five questions. Answers tomorrow. Good luck! 

16. For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble.

17. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.

18. Mein Führer, I can walk!

19. I’ve got a flat tire, and I ain’t got no spare.

20. Boys, let’s watch the cigarette butts, shall we? This is my house, not a pigsty.

Wow! Yesterday’s quotes were kinda hard, huh. A couple were pretty easy, but the other three not so much. Here’s the answers for Day 2: 

6. The Babe Ruth Story  (I would have guess Lou Gehrig.)

7. Beverly Hills Cop

8. A Streetcar Named Desire (I didn’t know this was the last line.)

9. The Princess Bride

10. The Wizard of Oz  (You really should have known this.)

Here we go with Day 3 questions:

11. I now pronounce you men and wives.

12. Love means never having to say you’re sorry.

13. No prisoners!

14. Wanna dance, or would you rather just suck face?

15. Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

Good luck.  Be sure to let me know how well you do.

The answers from yesterday: Congratulations to Helen Choate who got all five. (If anyone else did they didn’t tell me.)

1. A Christmas Carol
2. My Fair Lady
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Gone With the Wind
5. Casablanca

Okay, here’s five more:

6. His name will live as long as there’s a ball, a bat, and a boy.

7. I know the perfect place, you guys will love it. Trust me.

8. Stella! Hey, Stella.

9. As you wish.

10. There’s no place like home.

Just got a little harder didn’t it?  Good luck.

For the past few months I have been streaming NCIS on Netflix.  The original with Mark Harmon.  I love the character Anthony DiNozzio, played by Michael Weatherly. Tony is a movie buff, finding similarities to a movie plot in many of the scenarios NCIS is given to solve.

Many in my family are movie buffs, and I can barely keep up. But just for fun, while we’re at home, see how many of these exit lines you can match up with the movies they came from.

Answers tomorrow.

1. Merry Christmas, and may God bless us every one.
2. Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?
3. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
4. After all, tomorrow is another day!
5. Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Have fun!

What would you do if you knew you had only one week to live?

Would you go away? Would you go home?

Would you do some last minute sinning, or some last minute repenting?

Would you be sad? Angry? Hopeful? Afraid?

How would you spend those final hours?

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. (John 13:1)

With one week to live, Jesus chose to wash his disciples’ feet. He did the work of a common slave, ministering to those who were closest to him. He washed their feet (John 13), he comforted them (John 14), he encouraged them (John 15-16), prayed for them (John 17), and then he died for them.

He spent the last week of his life fulfilling his purpose; he spent the last week of his life being a servant.

…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)

You and me, we have a week to live: this week — and most probably hundreds more.

I want to spend this week fulfilling my purpose, doing that which is most important in terms of eternity: serving Christ by serving others.

. . . . . . . . . . 

This post for Holy Week is from my son Steve May’s blog, found at http://stevemay.com/