"Retirement Redux"

Let's Change it to "Refocus" and "Reawaken"

Two years ago, at just about this time, I “retired” from my job. It was August 2022, and I had a grand retirement party at which many friends wished me a good retirement.

The problem is, I don’t feel retired. For me, when I think of retiring, that means I’m getting ready to go to bed at night. Okay, never mind that I go to bed earlier than I used to. The point is that the word retirement doesn’t capture the past two years.

I am just as busy and engaged now as I was before I ‘retired.’ So, let me think of a few other adjectives to describe this period of my life: refitted, retooled, reloaded… naw, all those have some negative connotations, too.

Refitted sounds like I’ve had a hip or knee replacement. I haven’t…yet. Retooled, well, use your imagination on that one, I’m not going there. And reloaded is too violent, so I need another word.

Let me try this one…refocused. That is closer. Perhaps this one: reawakened. Yes, I’ll go with Refocused and Reawakened.

Here is what I’ve been doing for the past two years and why those words are much more appropriate. Since 2022, I’ve published three books. I have always loved to write, and I consider that to be my new job. However, it really isn’t like a job when you put in so much time for something that gives you such poor remuneration.

But that is the point, I’m not doing it for the money. I’m doing it because I like it. And, because I have income sources in this new phase of life, I am donating most of my royalties to some non-profits I support.

For the first year, I also went back to graduate school and worked on a Master’s degree in Public History. I enjoyed that immensely, but I put it aside to write two more books. (Another one will be published next year) I’ll get back to the graduate program at some point…when I want to.

This fall, I have the opportunity to teach part-time again at the local community college. That will be fun, engaging, and challenging since I haven’t taught students that age since, well… a while ago.

Then, there is the community advocacy work. I was named Director for our town's “Washington For Justice” advocacy group and have been leading those efforts for the past two years.

I have three grandchildren I can now spend more time with, although one is in Spokane, Washington, which means I get to take trips there a few times a year. So, I feel I am just as busy or more so than before I “retired”… I mean, refocused and reawakened.

But here is an example of what being refocused and reawakened means, at least for me. In a seemingly contradictory way, I am very busy, but I’ve slowed down.

Here is what I mean… To refocus means that I’m not rushing here and there so much anymore, and I’m taking some time to look at things more intensely and examining the world around me more deeply. When you take the time to refocus on life in that way, it helps you to reawaken to things that you may have glossed over before due to haste and hurry.

This is one example I’ll share today. I have shared a few articles with you about my observations or “zen” on my daily walks or bike rides. I live near a trail called the “Kewash” trail. The name is a combination of the town of Keota, 14 miles away, and the town of Washington. The trail, which connects the two towns, was formerly a railroad line run by…you guessed it, the Kewash Train company. Trains stopped running along that line in 1988, and by the early 90s, it was turned into a nature trail.

Well, after my recent discoveries along the trail this week, I had to research the Kewash railroad, and I found some wonderful photos and old pictures that show the rail line’s history along the path I use daily. These pictures somehow create a connection to the past that changes the way I think and feel about the trail now.

Railroads were a major part of my life. When I was maybe 9 or 10, my Cub Scout troop took a passenger train from the old depot in Omaha to Lincoln to visit the Museum of Natural History. Today, it is a 45-minute car trip on Interstate 80, going 80 miles an hour. In those days, it was an all-day affair to get there and back.

I’ve always been fascinated by railroads. When my mother had to go to work to support my two brothers and me in the 1960s, she developed a 30-year career working for the Pacific Union and Chicago Northwestern Railroads. Railroads put food on our table for many years. So, once I discovered that the Kewash was an old rail line, like many rails to trails are, I wanted to learn more.

Of course, any study or understanding of United States history must include railroads' importance and impact. Most of the towns in Iowa were platted and established by railroads, and the major highways have now replaced many of the major railroad lines.

Here are some pictures I found of some of the images of the Kewash railroad.

These two pictures are located on the current Kewash Nature Trail. (Picture from Burlington Railroad Historical Society, Charles Franzen & David Lotz)

Before the Kewash Co. bought the rail line, it was owned by the Milwaukee Railroad (Photo: Burlington Railroad Historical Society, Charles Franzen & David Lotz)

I’ve been walking and riding on this trail since the early 2000s after moving to Washington. I’ve always enjoyed it, whether it was walking our dog, bicycling with friends or solo, cross-country skiing in the winter, or just taking a walk. The trail has been inviting and has helped me to refresh.

The Kewash Nature Trail - Imagine a large locomotive charging down this path toward you.

During the past twenty-plus years, I overlooked some things along the trail that harken back to the earlier era of railroad supremacy in the United States. But on the last few walks and rides, I’ve begun to see some evidence of those earlier days. Being a history enthusiast, I began to take a few pictures of the relics of the past I discovered. Here is what I found: (photos were taken by me)

These old utility poles paralleled the rail line along the trail; some still stand. They are now deep within the trees and overgrown thicket, so if you aren’t looking for them, you will miss seeing them there. I missed them for over twenty years. But once I slowed down enough to see them, it was as if their past history was standing right there. A few of them even still have cables and wires attached to them.

As I walked along the trail just this week, I noticed them. As I came upon more and more of them, I began taking pictures. I was getting excited, if not a little embarrassed, by my lack of observation of these old historic relics. When trains ran along this line, there was little vegetation then since it was all cleared out to make room for the trains. Nature has taken over the trail, making its prior history part of the environment.

Then, I found more evidence of the earlier railroad era. Old discarded railroad ties were lying along the trail, not more than 6 feet away from the main trail. I’ve been on this trail for years and never noticed them before. They were there the whole time until I was able to refocus and reawaken to the history right under my nose.

Retiring seems to me to be about staying active, engaged, and busy but slowing down enough to see the things you’ve missed all these years. It is being awakened to new thoughts, ideas, and possibilities. It is discovering the history right in front of you and sorting it out so that it isn’t lost to time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little retirement redux and redefinition. If I discover more hidden historical remnants among the thicket, I’ll post about them again.