Retirement!

I honestly didn’t think I could do it!  When you’ve done something for 52 years it’s very hard to make that change.  I walked into Bud Smail Lincoln Mercury, hired as a posting clerk, in June of 1967.  I was still in high school, and it was a summer job – which turned into an after school job and then into a full time job.  That job morphed into so many different responsibilities and job descriptions that I could fill a notebook.  It goes without saying that I did not choose most of them, and I did not enjoy a lot of them!  But Bud, especially, was great to work for, and those early years were a learning, growing, blossoming time for me.  I went back to school in my senior year and switched to secretarial classes and soon was typing and short-handing up a storm.  I used those skills to the MAX through my entire 52 years of employment at Smail Auto. 

Through the years the structure of the auto industry changed, the people I worked with changed, management changed, ownership (although still Smails) changed.  It was no longer just Bud Jr and a handful of close knit employees.  Life got bigger, the industry got tougher, and Bud Smail Lincoln Mercury grew to ten franchises and even more physical buildings.  And I often felt lost in the vastness of it all.  But I stuck it out, did my best, and on June 28th, 2019, I walked out of Bud Smail Ford Lincoln Mazda for the last time as an employee.  I thought I’d cry, or feel lost, or be terribly frightened at the major life change.  But I didn’t.  I walked out the door with a small box of desktop items, put them in my car, and went home!  I seriously don’t even remember what I did – other than take a two mile walk around the block! – but I felt free and light and unconcerned.  Like I had stepped through a portal into another dimension. Since that time I have kept busy and seriously wonder how I worked so many hours and still got anything else done!  Life is good!  GOD is good! 

But that last week held a few fun events for me.  First off, Mark and Kelly Smail took me to lunch at Jaffre’s.  I’ve known Kelly since the first day she was hired as an F&I manager, and we had been very close in those early days!  It was a lovely time of fond remembrances and laughter!  On Wednesday Smail’s gave a catered (Elegant Tents) luncheon in the Ford showroom, complete with cake and special guest Ellen Smail.  Thanks so much, Ellen, for coming!  I was honored and humbled!  Before ‘food’, Jim gave me a check to put toward the purchase of my car, which I have been talking about buying for 6 months  — and hope to purchase by the end of this year.  Jeff and Lindsey and Jim all had little stories to tell, and very kind things to say about my long years with them.  Right before we ate, Cindy (controller), said “WAIT!  We have one more thing!”  I heard this rattling noise and here they came, pushing a metal cart with my beloved IBM Selectric Typewriter! It was the one thing that I really coveted – they just don’t make them like that any more!  It was sort of understood that as the only remaining ‘dinosaur’ in the complex it would stay put.  I can tell you that it made my day!  There was even a plaque with thanks for my years of devotion to Smail. 

On Thursday, Lenny and the maintenance crew cooked burgers on their grill outside their building and invited the select inner circle.  It was a laid-back luncheon and the third delicious meal in my honor.  Amazing people, lifelong memories.  So Friday, we took a few final pictures, and and I closed the book on that final chapter of my Smail working life. 

But not to worry; the new book that I am about to write will be filled with adventure and excitement and SPARE TIME!  I will file away the memories in separate little places, and be certain to only pull out the good ones.  A huge thank you to all those people who have crossed my path during those 52 years – I am who I am today, because of all of you!  God Bless!