First Saturday of My Retired Life, the Trajectory of a Life

I decided to set my date of retirement as Aug 31, 2015.  Turns out that Aug. 31 is a Monday --- so I used a vacation day and ended work on Friday, Aug. 28.

A few people had said that being retired means that every day is Saturday, even the retired SUNY Oneonta college president stuck his head in my door and told me that. It is a good concept or at least I think so at the moment as I type this on Saturday morning August 29th.

Other thoughts cross my mind.  When I was a boy my best friend was Randy Weber.  His father was an early riser -- he had to be he lived southeast of Philly and worked in the Big Apple -- commuting daily for years.  Did he sleep in on Saturday morning?  No way -- Saturday was HIS DAY and he got up earlier and if possible with more energy!

For years I was an early riser also.  I had to be, because I had a morning paper route.  The papers were all supposed to be on the porches by 7 AM. I have seen a lot of sunrises.

Other things I am thinking about and will expand on include --

The Trajectory of A Life --
Is trajectory a good word?    Are we really "shot from cannons" and subject to the calculations of a trajectory?

How is it that I can retire at 62?

Was it because there was a gas shortage in 1974 and I ran into Jack Salo in the Keaney Gym parking lot at URI -- finding him siphoning gas (with permission he told me) from a friend's car because the number on his license plate wouldn't permit him to buy gas in his car on that day?

Or was it because I stopped and got his Minnesota address?

Or because I was organized enough to keep the address with me and use it in 1976 when I was biking across the country and running low on funds and needed to stop and see someone I knew in Minnesota -- and he was the only soul that I knew in Minnesota.

Was it because he answered the postcard that I sent him?

Or because an airline lost my luggage on a flight back from Africa in 1977 and I tried to hit him up for a place on his floor until the luggage caught up with me which caused me to try to reconnect with him.

Or because the girlfriend, Diane Hoffbauer,  that came east with him in 1977 was ambitious and wanted to move from being a migrant tutor to another role as parent advisor leaving a part time position open that I could fill?

Or because a wise man, Jim Pasternak, in the payroll office told me to bank any raises I got instead of spending them?

There's a story behind each question -- I'll see if I can get around to filling out the stories on this blog.