In three days I shall turn 72. I am not at all sorry to do so. In fact, given my general good health, I must express my gratitude to God for keeping me around for six dozen years. (Given my many risky pastimes, it has been far from a sure thing!)
But I shall always look back on my year at 71 as a special one, for which I am especially grateful.
In the fall of 2014 I taught my final course in International business in the MBA Program at Plymouth State University. It went very well. Then, in December, our grandson Angus was born over in Vermont to our daughter-in-law Cally (ne Wheeler) and son Jesse McDougall. Also in December, I flew to Cluj-Napoca to spend the Holidays in Romania, visiting many dear friends there, and staying in the home of the Family Bogdan, generously opened to me by friend Lucian and his parents. My visit in Romania lasted until 3 January, including calls on friends in Oradea, Ocna Sugatag, Suceava, Iasi, and Vatra Dornei, as well as in Cluj.
On 2 January, while still in Romania, I received my final paycheck from Plymouth State, meaning that my retirement from my full professorship was at last final.
On 3 January I flew from Bucharest to London, and back over the Balkans to India, landing on the 4th in Bangalore.
From 5 January to 24 February I co-taught International Business to the Class of 2015 at XIME, a distinguished graduate school of business in Electronics City in Bangalore.
While in India, I served for three busy days as chairperson of an ACBSP Site Visit team at a business school in Vadodara, in northwestern India.
Returning to Boston late in February, I made it a point to drive to Florida to see Killian James McDougall, another new grandson, born to Amy, Jamie's wife, on 16 February. Shirl was not up to this trip, so I drove the 3,000 mile round trip, solo. On that visit, I was also able to see my eldest son Brian for a lunch in Delray Beach, stopping in to visit my friends the Starrs in Port St. Lucie .
The next month, I flew on Southwest, again by myself, out to see my daughters Piper and Christal, and to see my granddaughter Hannah Lehmen perform in a community theater production of Victor/Victoria, in Boulder. Piper was still in Aspen at this time, giving me a chance also to visit my niece Talya (my brother Bob's daughter) and her newborn daughter, my grandniece Eden, in Breckenridge.
In May, Shirl and I drove together back to Florida, to introduce her to Killian, and to see Jamie, Amy and Brynn, our two year-old granddaughter, Our main mission on this visit was to look into the possibility of finding a rental property or second home in Florida. (After spending one of the coldest winters on record in New Hampshire without me there to stoke the fire, Shirl declared her intention of becoming a "snowbird," wintering hereafter in Florida.)
Our next excursion was last month, when we visited Colorado in the company of Andrei Lukacs, our 15 year-old guest from Oradea, Romania. This time we all drove west together, as described in an earlier post.
So, I have lived my seventy-second year fully, at age 71. I am happy. I expect my next year to be less hectic. There is something calming about 72, with its lots of even factors.
But I shall always look back on my year at 71 as a special one, for which I am especially grateful.
In the fall of 2014 I taught my final course in International business in the MBA Program at Plymouth State University. It went very well. Then, in December, our grandson Angus was born over in Vermont to our daughter-in-law Cally (ne Wheeler) and son Jesse McDougall. Also in December, I flew to Cluj-Napoca to spend the Holidays in Romania, visiting many dear friends there, and staying in the home of the Family Bogdan, generously opened to me by friend Lucian and his parents. My visit in Romania lasted until 3 January, including calls on friends in Oradea, Ocna Sugatag, Suceava, Iasi, and Vatra Dornei, as well as in Cluj.
On 2 January, while still in Romania, I received my final paycheck from Plymouth State, meaning that my retirement from my full professorship was at last final.
On 3 January I flew from Bucharest to London, and back over the Balkans to India, landing on the 4th in Bangalore.
From 5 January to 24 February I co-taught International Business to the Class of 2015 at XIME, a distinguished graduate school of business in Electronics City in Bangalore.
While in India, I served for three busy days as chairperson of an ACBSP Site Visit team at a business school in Vadodara, in northwestern India.
Returning to Boston late in February, I made it a point to drive to Florida to see Killian James McDougall, another new grandson, born to Amy, Jamie's wife, on 16 February. Shirl was not up to this trip, so I drove the 3,000 mile round trip, solo. On that visit, I was also able to see my eldest son Brian for a lunch in Delray Beach, stopping in to visit my friends the Starrs in Port St. Lucie .
The next month, I flew on Southwest, again by myself, out to see my daughters Piper and Christal, and to see my granddaughter Hannah Lehmen perform in a community theater production of Victor/Victoria, in Boulder. Piper was still in Aspen at this time, giving me a chance also to visit my niece Talya (my brother Bob's daughter) and her newborn daughter, my grandniece Eden, in Breckenridge.
In May, Shirl and I drove together back to Florida, to introduce her to Killian, and to see Jamie, Amy and Brynn, our two year-old granddaughter, Our main mission on this visit was to look into the possibility of finding a rental property or second home in Florida. (After spending one of the coldest winters on record in New Hampshire without me there to stoke the fire, Shirl declared her intention of becoming a "snowbird," wintering hereafter in Florida.)
Our next excursion was last month, when we visited Colorado in the company of Andrei Lukacs, our 15 year-old guest from Oradea, Romania. This time we all drove west together, as described in an earlier post.
So, I have lived my seventy-second year fully, at age 71. I am happy. I expect my next year to be less hectic. There is something calming about 72, with its lots of even factors.
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-Duncan