Retirement

Last month my wife, Jan, retired from the job that she's worked at for the past twenty three years. She worked at Hoonah Trading Company for half of our married life. When she first started working there, it was Hoonah Seafoods, one of three stores in town. Since then, L. Kane Store has closed, as well as Harbor Lights, and the only other store in town opened- Colette's Cupboard. She first started working in the hardware department. I can't recall if it was Ace  Hardware then or not. I think it was. Since then they've been involved with several other hardware companies. After a few years down there in hardware, the store's general manager asked her to come up to the office and work. That's where she spent the majority of her time, as a bookkeeper. She was also given the assignment of collecting delinquent accounts, and they couldn't have chosen a better person for the job. She was like a bulldog with a rag doll. I've no idea how much money she recovered for the store, but she knew all the tricks for chasing down the bums who thought they could get away without paying and she pursued them relentlessly. I was glad that I always paid up on time; I don't think she would have made any exceptions for me. Twenty three years is a long time to do anything. She worked her eight hour day, sometimes six days a week, and still came home and cooked, cleaned and took care of the kids. I know it wasn't easy, and it wasn't always fun going to work. Even the best of jobs can be difficult to go to at times. She had a habit of showing up early for work  and staying late, and set a good example for those around her. I believe she worked under four different managers- five if you include the hardware manager. If you needed to cash a check or make a payment or order fuel, Jan was usually who you spoke to. Of course she did much more than that, I'm not even certain of what all things she did do. I remember her coming home and speaking about this or that and it would go over my head, but she was good at what she did, and I'm certain she'll be missed. Right now she's in Wisconsin visiting her mom, and I'm certainly missing her. I don't really know what her plans are when she gets home. It will be nice to have someone to share the chores with again, but two people only make so much mess. I do worry that we'll get on each other's nerves if we are both home all day. That won't be a problem in the summer, but we've got months of winter staring us in the face. It's not like we can hop in the truck and drive somewhere for the day to get out of town. I may have to take up checkers or open a barber shop so us old guys can have a place to sit around and reminisce. We wouldn't dare cut any hair, it would just be a hang out to keep us out of trouble.I'm sure it will work out somehow though. In any event, she's earned a rest, and I sincerely hope she enjoys her retirement.