In late October we ate the last tomatoes of summer\u2026those final pieces of fruit that ripened just before the weather turned colder. There is something wonderful about those tomatoes, knowing we are going into another season with no harvest. The last fruit of summer seems like the sweetest and best.<\/p>\n
I liken it to this time of my life when I am retiring from my job. The time has come rushing up, when it seems just a few months ago it would never happen. After a year or so at my job, I wasn\u2019t sure I would stay. I wasn\u2019t happy, and things were not going well. I almost resigned and moved on.<\/p>\n
But a wise counselor advised me to stay the course, move on to another area, and see if I could adjust. And that I did, eventually landing in the job I am retiring from. And I am so glad I stayed. It is not just because of the benefits that I am richly enjoying, including retiring with a pension. It is what I learned during these last nearly 12 years in this job that has enriched my life beyond measure.<\/p>\n
I found myself with a supervisor who was brave enough to sit down with me and show me how I needed to change. Was that easy to hear? No, not at all, but it was also a relief, because I finally understood why I had experienced so much strife and pain in my job. Because of his courage, it helped me to have the courage to look honestly into myself and make the decision to change. And that has made all the difference for me.<\/p>\n
I have been able to make friends with some wonderful people in the past twelve years. I have had so many wonderful days and moments in my job, crazy times, even frustrating and stressful times. I have laughed and I have cried. But instead of constantly being in conflict, I have been able to work together with my coworkers, learning, sharing my skills, and contributing to our combined success. I have been able to see my job as a gift.<\/p>\n
I have heard it said that as humans we naturally avoid pain and difficulty. We want to take the easy path. That is what I have done so many times in the past. But this time, I chose the more difficult path. Change is not easy, especially changing a lifetime of habits. But change I did, and I am so grateful for the time I have had at this wonderful company.<\/p>\n
It is sad to leave, but now I am entering into a new season of my life, looking forward to new adventures and new lessons.<\/p>\n
To quote from one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost:<\/p>\n
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I\u2014
\nI took the one less traveled by,
\nAnd that has made all the difference.
\n<\/i>
\nAnd King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes:
\nTo everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.<\/i>
\nEcclesiastes 3:1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In late October we ate the last tomatoes of summer\u2026those final pieces of fruit that ripened just before the weather turned colder. There is something wonderful about those tomatoes, knowing we are going into another season with no harvest. The last fruit of summer seems like the sweetest and best. I liken it to this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tomatoes-101845_640.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8a3GA-7L","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":308,"url":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/dandylynes\/","url_meta":{"origin":481,"position":0},"title":"Dandylynes","author":"Lea Splane","date":"May 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Dandylynes - that's how my husband pronounces dandelions. This spring there were hundreds and hundreds of them in our yard. I thought I would be industrious and dig them out one by one. I used to do that as a child for punishment. My parents would send us out to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Musings"","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/4556806960_65d308d735_dandelions.jpg?fit=500%2C334&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130,"url":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/its-all-in-the-choices-we-make\/","url_meta":{"origin":481,"position":1},"title":"It’s All in the Choices We Make…","author":"Lea Splane","date":"July 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember an experience I had sometime during 1990, I was sitting on the podium of our congregation in Maryland, taping Asher's message (that was old school when you had to sit and watch the cassette tape and turn it over when the first side was full). 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Six years ago Ken talked me into adopting a cat and now we have four, so I have proven the point; hence, the cup. But this isn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Musings"","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/2570946012_9c59301283_Crazy-Cat-Lady.jpg?fit=313%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/focus\/","url_meta":{"origin":481,"position":3},"title":"Focus","author":"Lea Splane","date":"December 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately, perhaps the past few months even, God has been asking me this question, \u201cWhere is your focus?\u201d I have pondered that question a lot, and in so many situations that I have found myself. Is it about the fact that I have so much excess weight on my body\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Musings"","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/9480023049_5984c44aaa_Focus.jpg?fit=500%2C333&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/unto-the-least-of-these\/","url_meta":{"origin":481,"position":4},"title":"Unto the least of these…","author":"Lea Splane","date":"January 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A few months ago the pastor of the church we are attending passed out a card to everyone attending. The card said, \"God, what are you calling me into?\" He suggested we put it up somewhere in our home where it would remind us to ask the question of God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Musings"","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sunset","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/freedom-2053281_640.jpg?fit=640%2C486&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/freedom-2053281_640.jpg?fit=640%2C486&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/freedom-2053281_640.jpg?fit=640%2C486&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":277,"url":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/freedom-in-bondage\/","url_meta":{"origin":481,"position":5},"title":"Freedom in Bondage?","author":"Lea Splane","date":"August 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We have four cats, and a huge fenced back yard where they can go out and roam around. We don\u2019t let them roam free in the neighborhood. A couple of months ago, a baby rabbit somehow squeezed in through an opening in the fence. Ken thought he had them all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Musings"","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/bird-1423168_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C786&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/bird-1423168_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C786&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/bird-1423168_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C786&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/bird-1423168_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C786&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/bird-1423168_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C786&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splanescorner.us\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}