Why Did I Retire?

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

First, Thank God, I could afford to.

The details of my work conflicted with how valuable my waning years had become. Those details seemed like and were a waste of time that was too precious to waste.

There were books to read and books to write. There were places to see and places to miss. There were people to meet and people to avoid.

I needed greater focus on my spiritual growth. I knew that it was more blessed to give than receive. I had to do more giving.

It was time to see family and friends and talk of things that mattered.

It was time to get off the unmerry-go-round.

H.Robert Rubin, memoirist and author of Look Backward Angel, How Did I Get Through This? and Please Save the Third Dance for Me, all published on Amazon.

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Green Pastures and Still Waters

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the the still waters. He restoreth my soul.” This was the Peace or Shalom of David, the poet king in Psalm 23.

In the memoir of a Yale anatomist, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight, she realized she was undergoing a specifically located left-sided stroke when it occurred. She described what she missed after successful rehabilitation of her left side of the brain, having recovered LINEAR, functions (logic, math, etc.). Paraphrasing her, she said she missed the enormous Peace generated by the NONLINEAR (creativity) right brain, prior to the rehabilitation..

Isn’t the Shalom described by this gifted man and woman what humanity seeks. Not power, not wealth, not celebrity, but Shalom in most instances, deep in our inner selves, is what we seek. Is it not?

Paul described that Peace in Ephesians 3:16, “That…

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Winslow, AZ

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

In 1972 the Eagles wrote their song, Take it Easy. It commemorated the town of Winslow, AZ. Kristine and I did not meet until five years later.

That very last week of 1977, we began our trek from Baltimore, MD to Ventura, CA, a town memorialized by the Pontiac Ventura, a car that died that same year.

On the last day of our journey the beautiful, cool, winter weather drifted through AZ. We were driving the 2nd least dependable car I had ever owned,  both of which were not vetted. My lack of skill through the age of 32 in buying dependable cars was remarkable.

It was evening and we were rolling down the road into Winslow, AZ. At the same time from our subpar speaker system we heard the Eagles singing” Well I am standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ.”🎵 🎶.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to actually stop…

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