TODAY!

This is the day I have been waiting for....for a VERY LONG time! March 30th, 2020!
Today I retire from my life's work. I have studied and "practiced" medicine and specifically dermatology for over 41 years. Whew! High Five, I'm still alive!
Why retire now? Why this particular day? Part of the choice was planned, the rest divinely coordinated...

Today would have been my Daddy's 88th birthday. 8's are important to me.... I was born in '58.
That was when The First Third began...
Married in '88, my life entered The Second Third....Son Luke born 5/3, Daughter Bryna 6/20.
My very favorite dog Bo, a regal gentle giant Rhodesian Ridgeback was born 8-8-88.

It seemed fitting to honor life by choosing Dad's 88th birthday, even though he has been gone for 6 years. We celebrated his last earthly birthday in 2013 after a trip to the Audie Murphy VA Hospital for an exacerbation of his COPD. (damn cigarettes). While waiting in the ER my Uncle Edgar (Yogi) entered Heaven on this day in Virginia, being finally released from his physical sufferings, cancer treatments and strokes....I can still close my eyes and hear him grin and say CHUUUUGAR in his slow Southern drawl....He was larger than life, 6 ft 6 inches, so kind and always had the Baird sparkle of humor just below the surface....

It was one of the toughest moments of my life telling my Dad he was gone.... It's hard seeing your daddy cry.  There were many stories of Dad keeping Yogi out of trouble. Somehow, even at 81y/o my Dad felt like he needed to go first to prepare the place.  Didn't turn out that way. So little in life turns out the way you think it will, or should..... When we were discharged from the hospital and got home, we had the cake, of course, and nearly burned the house down.  Tough on his COPD, but traditions you know.....

Anyway, that was a long time ago. I digressed....Isn't that what these blogs are for?
Now, back to TODAY!

It is the Best of Times. It is the Worst of Times...(Remember Tale of Two Cities?)
History repeats itself.... It just is a reminder that good and bad, happy and sad co-exist in our lives....
We are in a crazy, scary, unpredictable time amid self sequestering during the COVID 19 pandemic.
My bestie Troodles says "only you can end a stellar career during a pandemic".....
Anyway, life actually came to a grinding halt 2 weeks ago, before the "official day".... Given my
"non-essential" status, I was thrown into the void a bit sooner than I "expected" however, given my
regimented, concrete self, I knew my career was not "really over" until my Daddy's 88th birthday, and that is TODAY!!!

Now Officially, My FINAL THIRD has begun. I've learned alot from patients and people and God over the last 61 years. I want to be intentional how I live out the rest of my life. It's presumptive of course, to assume I will have another third, but I am hopeful!

 Come along with me, as I discover a new purpose for the remaining passion and heart beats of my life.