Category: Life
Retirement Redux
The retirement was finally done, at least, insofar as closing the office. I emptied six rooms, 900 square feet, of all evidence of my 40 years’ occupation and practice of law. All the old typewriters, printers, computers, desks, chairs, etc. that were so familiar and served me well – gone. It’s odd the sentiment and attachment felt for inanimate things. The books, OMG, the books, the foundation of my knowledge, the tools of my trade, although some were just for show. The contents of ten legal sized four-drawer metal file cabinets were emptied into large bins and hauled away, along with more than 40 legal-sized boxes of client files, to be shredded. It’s impossible to describe the emotions, watching 40 years of life’s work dumped into a truck for shredding. All those hours, days, weeks and years of work, all those clients… to be rendered into disparate strips. Maybe they’ll be recycled and reborn as Starbucks cups. Or maybe birthday and get-well cards, printed on the back: “Made from 100% recycled career of John Chappell.”
Retirement
Trying hard to become retired but neither clients nor judges nor fate is cooperating much. Days tick off relentlessly as the Feb. 28 deadline to vacate the office looms like a grizzly awakened from hibernation who has spied his first meal of spring. Deadlines imposed by indifferent authorities creep forward relentlessly, competing for time against financial challenges and puzzles that for years were content to lie dormant but have chosen this time to turn urgent and threaten dire consequences. Not to mention other obligations ranging from those spawned by dad’s demise to the grind of simply dealing with life’s mundane daily challenges. I take little breaks when possible to read books, a recent one of which took an analytical look at the saying, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. The author noted that such things could leave you disabled or otherwise in a condition other than stronger, however much someone might argue about strength of character. So, I’d just as soon skip a third heart attack, thank you very much. Wish me luck. And, if anybody wants some impressive-looking law books to decorate their walls, I have quite a lot for the taking, as well as a few desks, chairs, etc.
Kansas Homestead
January 4, 2023
Life, Memory Lane
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John Chappell
As many people do, and as I thought I had done before now, I checked street view on Google maps to see what my house would look like. Maybe in the past I only checked satellite view. What I found today on street view is a photo that Google must have taken at least 25, maybe 30, years ago; I lose track of time. The van in the driveway is what we had when the kids were pre-college which was way before the turn of the century. There’s been at least one other car between that van and what we have now.
And the maple tree in the front yard now dwarfs the depiction of it in the photo. I suppose it’s still quite a feat for Google to have actually photographed so many homes, but it’s a little surprising to learn that what they show may be of more historical than current interest.
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