When Is It Time To Leave?

People come and people go through our lives on a fairly normal basis. Sometimes we are happy they are leaving and other times we are saddened by their exit. Even when they are leaving for positive reasons it reminds us that we must move on without them. As a society even when we care for people we are going to look after our own interests above those around us. Today was one of those days that made me realize people do have passions and that at some point they must walk away. I had the opportunity to go to a retirement party for the outgoing Sport Information Director at FSC. He has been with the Moc’s for 10 years now and has decided that it is time to hang up the keyboard, the stat cards, and the microphone. Ten years at one place isn’t the reason he is retiring. It is the 31 years at his previous employer that has gotten him to this point. See, Bill was the voice of the Mules of Central Missouri for 31 years before he came to FSC to do the SID post. Bill is a mild mannered guy who loves sports, especially baseball. Over the years he has become a huge Tampa Bay Ray’s fan. Even though he resided in the Show Me state for over 30 years and he is a fan of the KC Royal’s and St. Louis Cardinal’s he is now a diehard Ray’s fan. This could be because one of the top Ray’s is a FSC alum and made it all the way to the top. Bill has spoken much about his love for the great American pastime. He is so excited about retiring because now he can go to any series of the Royal’s and will not have to worry about whether or not there is a collegiate sporting event that must be covered. This really struck me because if we think about it we are so bound by our jobs in one way or another. We either don’t have the time, money, or risk of our reputation to do the things we want to when we want to do them. He is also excited because in an ironic twist of fate the same apartment he lived in while in Missouri is available. He called the place the palace and even said that since the old place had come available it made the decision to retire even easier. Other things have also fallen into place to smooth the transition. He has the same insurance agent, the same bank, and even an association with his former school. How many times in our life do things actually work out so that when we are moving on to something new the pieces ease right into place. Most of the time we are struggling to find some sort of comfort and anybody that may assist with our new place. The comfort Bill feels has eased his mind and made him even more confident it is time to move on. We see it all the time, people try to hang on for just a little longer and then they never actually get to enjoy what they worked so hard to build. Even though it saddens me to see such a good working friend leave he is setting a fine example for his former colleagues to aim for. Go out on top, enjoy what you want, do things when you want to, and go where you are comfortable. All four of these things are hard to attain but if you do get there you have just hit a walk off grand slam in life. Hey Bill, have a pretzel and a beer for me. Today’s workout was a tough one. 3 rounds of 10 chest to bar pull-ups, 7 power cleans, and 100 meter sprint with 4 minutes rest between each round. All the chest to bar pull-ups were done with 60 lbs of assistance. The power cleans were done with 95 lbs, and the 100 meter sprints were done by running three up and backs in the basketball gym. After a tasty lunch at Subs n Such, go there if you get a chance, it was time to run. The afternoon workout consisted of 3 x ½ mile runs followed by 2:00 minutes rest. Round 1: 4:15.8 Round 2: 4:16.3 Round 3: 4:14.6 I’m getting faster and a little stronger.