A Great Ride

Few documents need to be retained.

Retiring from full-time employment several years ago, I have had no regrets. Nevertheless, I was saddened by the closing this month of the San Francisco office where I worked for 20 years. The event took no one by surprise; the sale of its major line of business ten years ago, plus the hiring of new employees elsewhere, had revealed senior management's thinking (and, BTW, played no small part in my own decision-making).

Home offices don't have this view.

Most of the 28 remaining employees---at one time the number was 300---are well situated with new jobs, retirement and severance benefits, and/or contract extensions. Those with the latter will work from home and commute as needed to the Chicago headquarters.

I went back to the office to say a last goodbye to former co-workers. (We'll probably see each other again, but it will be under different circumstances, and, well, one never knows.) Long forgotten were the specifics of individual deals that at the time seemed vitally important. What we did remember were moments spent together---amusing, ironic, celebratory, intense, and sad. We didn't realize it at the time, but it was a great ride.