John's Next Step

Saturday was the last day of the morning men’s discussion group at my Church.  The program is called “That Man is You” or TMIY.  In our parish we meet on Saturday mornings starting in the fall and ending in the spring.  We’ve been meeting for three years now.  The best part of the meeting is the table discussions.  My table, #2, is the best #1 table.  The guys got me a picture as a going away present.  Good-bye all, I’m going to miss the fellowship and the breakfasts!   This was the first week of my retirement and it has given my time to think about what needs to be done before I leave.  On Tuesday I had a happy hour that lasted about four hours.  I would like to thank my friends from Express Scripts, MasterCard, and from Church who stopped by to wish me well and to exchange good-byes and good luck.  It was a nice time and I wished I would have been able to talk more to everyone – thanks again. Selling or renting a house and what to do with a lifetime of stuff is a major

Thanks so much to all my friends who came by Dave and Busters.  It was very nice seeing everyone, even if I was not able to talk to each of you as much as I would have liked. Much success everyone !!!!

Retirement ? Friday was my last day at work – so I’m officially retired for six weeks until I head off to Ghana. Yesterday the local Peace Corps staff put on a picnic for applicants, nominees, invitees, and RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers).  The picnic was a great with about 30 people – mainly FPCVs (Future Peace Corps Volunteer in the stage of applicant, nominee, or invitee).  I forgot about taking pictures. Hmm, in the future I’ll try to remember stuff like that.  Anyway, I am taking my next steps to get myself ready for service during this six week “retirement”.  My time will be spent getting my house and myself ready and visiting my family and Theresa’s family.  I’m getting stuff collected for packing and I’ll provide the required “packing list post” in the near future hopefully before departure.  I’ll land in Ghana on June 4 th – about 45 days away.  Wow. Happy Easter Happy Easter to my family and friends – I miss you today and will miss you more nex

Orchids are blooming My wife Theresa and I always liked orchids.  I've kept the plants for years and as long as I do not kill it (hint: don't over or under water it) the plant would bloom maybe a year later and typically around Easter. In her last year I wanted to make sure she always had flowers in the house so orchids were a perfect choice.  A live orchid may cost several times more than cut flowers, but the flowers last for a very long time.  I ended up with four plants that I've kept alive since 2012. The two plants with the first bloom.  Picture taken March 30th. April 12th, the flowers continue to open. I was happy to see that two plants would be blooming for Easter.  Orchids bloom in slow motion and I've been watching the flower stalks grow for over a month before I took this picture of the first flowers.  As I am learning to blog and need to figure out pictures I decided that this would be a good post to practice. Close up of the other fl

I gave notice this week at work. My last day at work will be Good Friday.  It is such a nice feeling not having to hide that portion of my life.  I can finally talk about my plans to my friends at work.  Man that feels really really good.  Ten work days left and so much to do. After Good Friday I have six weeks of retirement to visit family and friends as well as getting the house and myself ready.  I expect to fly out of St. Louis on June 1st to a staging city in the US.  I'm scheduled to land in Ghana on June 4th - that next step will be training in Ghana! On Saturday I met one of the other volunteers going to Ghana in June.  There are twenty-six people invited to serve in the June Ghana education group.  There are rumors of another person from the St. Louis area also invited.  I may be able to confirm and meet the person at a Peace Corps picnic scheduled for April 19th in St. Louis. On Saturday I also bought a nice pair of hiking shoes - very comfortable, a pair a