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“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” — Howard Thurman
When I last checked in with you we were waiting to move to California to be closer to our, now, 18-month granddaughter. I shared the wisdom I had gotten from a six-day silent retreat. As Paul Harvey used to say, “now for the rest of the story”.
I broke my silence at the retreat to interview for my dream retirement job – being an usher for the San Francisco Giants. Despite the fact my wife told me when I applied “they aren’t going to hire a 67-year old with two replacement hips,” they did. I accepted the offer of a part-time, minimum-wage job and the opportunity to commute from North Carolina to California to do it. Another consequence of the good luck and timing of saving/investing over the years.
I had been a bit lost and depressed since November. The election results and our inability to find a place to live in California had been getting me down. The new job, and the Howard Thurman quote above, inspired me to move towards what makes me come alive. I decided to start working on my long-planned memoir with baseball as its main theme. I fell in love with baseball (and Willie Mays) in 1965 when I was seven and my family was falling apart. Perhaps it could help save me again when the country seems to be falling apart.
I started writing during spring training and started the new job in April. It’s been a whirlwind. I’ve been interviewing baseball fanatics like myself. Current and former writers, announcers, players and fans – including members of the HumbleDollar community. (If you are one please let me know!) Baseball gives them and me joy – and joy always makes me come alive. The faith of taking a job without a place to live paid off – we are closing on a new house in two weeks and the cross-country move will begin when we sell our house in North Carolina.
We face many challenges as we age and prepare for, or enter into, retirement. HumbleDollar helps us with the financial challenges but just as important can be finding and/or remembering what makes us come alive. The twinkling in my granddaughter’s eyes as she remembers my face, the smiles of six-year and sixty-six year olds as they walk into the ballpark and the conversations with people I never dreamed I would meet to talk about the memories and heartbreaks of baseball give me joy these days. And I feel more alive. I know that’s what I need now, I hope and pray it is what the world needs now too.
Great post, thank you!
I am in your age group. I grew up listening to the reds on a transistor radio. I was a good fan until free agency and life got in the way. The radio taught me how to listen to the details and how to story tell myself. Great article.
Don, you probably know there’s another big Giants fan that writes for HumbleDollar.
Don and I had breakfast in SF before a game a few weeks ago. He’s as delightful in person as he is here.
Very neat. I bet you meet some really great people and have interesting conversations. A classic case of thinking outside the box.
Congratulations Don!
Don- I too was at that infamous game with the Roseboro/Marichal incident via my local newspaper, San Mateo Times as I was a paper boy for them. I now enjoy our updated electrified CalTrain a great way to attend the 12.45 games. Walk to downtown station and end of the line in SF. $5.50 round trip and get a Bleacher ticket. Great way to spend a weekday. Don’t ask the beer price, outrageous but they let you have a cold one on the train!
My mother had an interesting life and several careers. She became an usher for the Cubs when she retired after the six of us were grown. That was completely unexpected, and she loved it. The Cubs team hosted many special events and she was there for many of them. I hope the Giants do the same; you’ll love it.
Just here to say this is a fantastic post. My family baseball story is I found a long lost sister a few years ago and we bonded over baseball. Now we take an annual trip to a major league park. We also have done a spring training tour and I go with her to minor league games when I visit her during the season. Best of luck!
What a great story Rob. I’d love to hear more. Drop me an email if you want to chat. dsouthworth@me.com
Love your determination in landing your dream job! Your story is an inspiration to the rest of us. We have 9 grandkids, most of them driving now, and we enjoy their visits and friendship. Safe trip to your new home!
Thanks Cheryl. Wow! 9 – you have a grandchild baseball team.
I’ll talk to you, too. I became a Willie Mays fan in 1963 at the age of 10. I would read the sports pages to see the box scores, evaluate his batting average, track his home runs, and root for the Giants from Burlington, NC. Whenever the Giants played on game of the week it was a special treat. It was even more special when Juan Marichal pitched!
Jeff please drop me an email (donsouthworth1@gmail.com). My first game was in 1965 when I wa 7. It was Koufax vs. Marichal at Candlestick. It was the infamous game where Juan hit Roseboro in the head with his bat. Willie hit a 3 run HR off a rattled Koufax and the Giants won. Best…game..EVER!
“I had been a bit lost and depressed…”
Grandchildren, for me at least, are a cure for that.
even better tan re-reading one of my old, favorite books.
Love that prescription Winston!
This is fantastic. Congratulations Don.
Don, if you’ll forgive the temerity, I am proud of you. Proud. The courage and determination you’ve shown to pursue a childhood dream clear across the country in retirement (and to chug up and down those Oracle Park steps with new hips) make my eyes mist up.
I’d be happy to chat with you. As a local TV sportscaster I covered minor league teams in Pawtucket, Columbus and Fresno and spring training for the Twins, Reds and Red Sox. I interviewed Willie in a golf cart (he was pretty brusque), so infuriated Pete Rose that we both wound up on the CBS Evening News that night, went live from Opening Day at Fenway, and produced a public TV special out of three hours of videotaped hilarity with Bill “Spaceman” Lee in the Wrigley Field bleachers.
And I’m a Cubs fanatic. My last visit to your new workplace was for a Cubs/Giants playoff game in 2016. I went to the game direct from a cancer treatment at UCSF. (Really, really bad idea.) I wore my lucky Cubs jersey and cap to every treatment and scan over the years. I still cry every time I watch the replay of us winning the World Series in Cleveland. I lived to see it.
Where did you find a place? I was 23 years in Pacifica and Moss Beach.
”I still cry every time I watch the replay of us winning the World Series in Cleveland. I lived to see it.”
I was the same when the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series on my daughter’s birthday no less. She had just arrived for her freshman year at Marist College in NY. I told her after the Sox came back from a 0-3 deficit against the Yankees in the ALCS, then won the World Series she wouldn’t have to put up with Yankees fans giving her grief that I had to put up with like I did from several of my brothers in my fraternity at UVM. I told her it was the best birthday present she could get that year.
PS my brother in law worked Durham Bulls games in Raleigh when he retired. Being an avid golfer he also obtained a part time job as a starter at the Duke Country Club which he still does.
Thanks Mike. Great stories. We will be in Concord near our son & his family. I managed the A&W (now Taco Bell) in Pacifica back in the late 70’s. I’d love to talk. Please drop me an email at donsouthworth1@gmail.com and we’ll set something up.
So you can take BART on game days? As a lifelong Giants fan now in Georgia, I’m jealous! What a dream retirement job!
Mike, you should join our Giants fan blog community, Together We’re Giants. There are fans from all over the country/world. One of our most awesome regulars is Totalfan62, originally from the Bay Area, who now lives in the Atlanta area.
https://togetherweregiants.com/
When I first corresponded with Don, I told him that I’ve considered trying to get a job at Scottsdale Stadium during spring training once I’m retired. We go every year, and the staff nearly all appear to be seniors, which isn’t surprising in AZ, and they all seem to be having a great time.
I remember going to the old spring training hotel as a kid with the hotel pool in the shape of a bat! I’ll definitely check out the blog, thanks.https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1536/mlb/nhkr4tedn1yiet3ctfzj
Good for you Don. I love hearing people’s very personal life and retirement stories. We 67 year-olds still have some mileage in us. We moved 90 miles to be part of our grandson’s lives. It is a gift we gave to them and to ourselves. Best of luck on the move.
Thanks Rick. 90 miles sounds a lot better than 2,815 does but it will be worth it at the end of the road.
Especially the weather. I love the Bay Area weather.
Such an inspiring post! Finding purpose is so important. It’s not in a six figure job or the largest house on the block; it’s that twinkle in their eye you described. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Mike. Since we are downsizing by 33% and the only six figures I’ve seen in a long time is the house price, it better be all about those twinkles!
That’s what I call success the result of determination. What you describe is not something I can even comprehend, but you have set an amazing example of seeking happiness.
I hope your wife enjoys the ride too.
The good news is the California minimum wage is up to $20 an hour.
Thanks Dick. I get $21.36 + a $4 daily travel stipend! A new gold rush in California.
Do you at least get a free meal too?
ROFL 🤣