While the past year is freshest in my mind, I'm documenting a 2012 legacy story that reflects a defining moment or milestone event.

On Friday, May 25th, 2012 I picked up my yearbook and went to the front office of Payson Junior High School in Payson, Utah (where I taught middle school science to thirteen and fourteen year-olds), said a couple of good-byes to Carl Swenson, Paul Barber, and others in the administration office, turned in my keys, and became officially retired.

More like being re-treaded than being re-tired.  I can say, however, that I was tired!  I left the school, and did not turn back.  I only made one visit during the summer and that was to aske the office manager if she would like me to be a personal historian for her or members of her family and document their legacies in LegacyStories.

Have I had any regrets?  Nope!  In fact, I have been so busy trying to figure out what to do.  Not that there's nothing to do, but because there is so much to do--Where do I start?  And how can I get the efficiency that has seemed to disappear?  Now it takes me twice as long to do half as much! 

It wasn't much different than leaving school for the summer in the 38 years that I taught in the public schools.  But I don't miss the bullying, or the laziness of some students who wouldn't make any effort to learn.  But I do miss the kids!  Being involved not only made the time fly by, but there was always more to do than the time to do it.  The main thing was that it was structured.  Now, with retirement, the only structure is what I allow in the way of appointments and my "To Do" list.

The summer was pretty-much like other summers.  Lots of yard work, the regular day to day things that needed to be done around the home place.  But I also spent a lot of time working with LegacyStories.  One of the things I need to keep working on is to organize 50+ years of family history research.  

When school started in August, I didn't even miss a beat from what was doing during the summer.  But the most difficult thing that I have, and still experience, is setting up a regimen or a schedule.  Though I have had goals in mind, the target keeps moving.  Some days, the entire day is spent working with LegacyStories.  

I have started to meet with groups and make presentations.  Most of them have resulted in networking and introducing LegacyStories.org.  This has resulted in a few contacts, and some of them will continue.  I have also learned how to use the website for my own photos, audios, and multimedia stories.  I can also use this effectively with others.

This fall, I have been working with the Salem City Library in putting a Pict-Oral History Project in place.  At the beginning of this year, it went public and we'll see how things transpire from here.  I made a presentation in November at the Payson Senior Center, and this gleaned two Legacy Matters Programs.  One lifetime vault also was a result of this contact, as well.  

Taking time for going to AnyTime Fitness (which is a totally new experience for me); scanning the photographic slides I took as a missionary in The Netherlands; working on one file at a time from the vertical filing cabinet and putting the information in the correct family in my Family History; as well as being at home with my mother who also needs help with her bookkeeping (and whatever else is worrying her at the moment) thawing out frozen pipes, etc. etc. keeps me busy while my wife is currently at  work 12-16 hours a day, with commuting, as she trains and works on a new database launch from Mountainland Association of Governments-Aging Department; and writing presentations, handouts, and trying to keep things juggled--I've got enough to do to keep my busy. [Now that's a run-on sentence like I used to get from 7th and 8th graders in reports, and how I feel sometimes.] As I have heard from others in my neighborhood who have retired--"I wonder how I ever had time to work!"  But it is getting better with a "To Do" list that keeps getting longer and longer as I cross of things I have accomplished.

I'm Lost, But I Make Good Time!