I was now safely retired for the third time. I was hoping it would take, but if past history was any predictor I would be employed in a gainful way very soon.

Sometimes you should keep your thoughts to yourself, or better yet, don’t even think them.

I had been playing at being an author for the last eight or so years. It all started with a long road trip where I started telling my wife a story about a kid hitchhiking to California from Ohio.

It had some of my life and times as a loose framework but with little basis in reality. She really got into it. As the tenth hour of our drive approached she told me, “You should write this down, it would make a fun story.”

I promptly forgot to do that. Then life changed, I was downsized out of a job. I spent the next eight months looking for one.

During that time to keep my sanity, I did write that story. I posted it on a site called Stories on Line. It was well-received to my surprise. Apparently, there were many old guys with too much time on their hands.

I kept writing and they kept reading, some sending kind comments, others not so kind, but on the whole, it was good.