Congratulations on 50 years and how wonderful for your company to celebrate you.

That made it special for me.

How blessed to experience authentic success that no gold watch could compare with!

Too itchy and too clunky.

the memories better.
Luck and hard work. Must have been a pleasant evening.

No better proof of the strength there is in diversity.

We look at old photos of us 45 years ago, and it's like looking at an album from our Kindergarten days.

Your experiences are fascinating to read

I never know in advance if I'm boring people to tears or not.

Except for the white hair and the creaky bones, it's hard to believe.

We forgot the confetti, so it's just as well you remembered.

That might be one of the few things that might lead my wife to consider a divorce after all these years.

Congrats on an amazing journey, especially the personal one.

The personal part remains the most important.

Without that, it's all just miles and numbers.

Well done!👏👏💙

It doesn't really feel like fifty years, but the white hair and the mileage don't lie.

Fifty years in the blink of an eye, and told so warmly, I felt as if I was there. Congratulations.

Then we could really be accused of trying to bore people to death!

And your writing is always one of my favorite things to find on Democratic Underground.

I think all of us are determined to be alive to celebrate the day our current political predicament comes to a close. What a revoltin' development this is!

I wondered if Dylan had ever heard Pirate Jenny when he wrote this song. According to a reddit submission quoting passages from Dylan's Chronicles, he heard Pirate Jenny in New York (1963, iirc) and it made a hell of an impression. (Sorry wish I could
link. I'm techlousy so to speak.) The quoted passages from "Chronicles" are superbly written. It's Dylan, after all.

Always loved "When the Ship Comes In".
It was written in 1963, so maybe a connection...thx for Arlo's version.

By memory - Judy Collins, of course . . .

Also loved Nina Simone version. First heard ithis song in a student production at MIT years ago.
Bertolt Brecht's play and Kurt Weill's music.

They should have given you a Porsche!

I have driven those things. They are way down low to the ground, and I found that driving them gives you a snail's eye view. Plus, it took me three minutes to even get into the thing. My wife and I do drive locally made (i.e. German) cars, since they are easier to fix if we have a problem. But our brand of choice is easier to get in and out of if your height exceeds three feet six inches.

..you could take it to the repair shop and say "That's the way the Mercedes bends."

(Sorry. A 1962 Culver Military Academy talent show joke. I didn't win.)

Talk about dodging a bullet!

Quite a reflection on how you got there.
And thanx for not using the word "boss". It reeks of indentured servitude. Some of my best supervisors were those who made me feel like we were working together instead of working for them.

Good luck! See you at the senior buffet.

I suppose I will find out some day--preferably not posthumously!
When the guy you work for is your best friend and six months younger, I avoid the term "boss" like the plague!

What's in the buffet? I haven't had lunch yet!

After 30 years I retired at 49 and the following 22 years have been the best of my life. So far.

But I get off on the traveling, so I would miss that.

your colleagues planned the perfect gathering. A testament to you that your work lives on globally! I was thinking about my sister who spent 42 years as a University librarian assistant. We had a family memorial but the library director wanted to have a separate memorial for her. She planned the entire event and I was overwhelmed with how many came. Some who had transferred elsewhere flew in for it from London, Boston, New York, Hawaii, and North Carolina. I knew she was well-liked at her job, but not to this extent. I wish she had retired before she died and had the experience of knowing the full extent of their appreciation. Enjoy every moment of your retirement adventure! 😊

I'm only 73. This was just to celebrate the first fifty years (gotta be optimistic, right?).

You have a strong literary streak and this post really shows it off. Your stories are never boring; they pull us in and we're right there with you, seeing the world through your eyes.

Lionel and I are so lucky to know you and your beautiful wife personally.

I hope DFW writes memoirs and much more in the future

I think my book is still on Amazon. I suppose I should look before guessing!

We all hunger for well-told stories, and DFW's satisfies.

you. Congratulations.
You know, maybe you should write that book...

The last one took me over a year, and that was fiction! Much easier to play with, since I didn't have to remember conversations with Thomas Jefferson in order to write them down.

and written an elegant story about it and about your life.

You only hinted at retirement. This leaves me wondering what you are up to now. Will your retirement be cold turkey or gradual? I doubt that anyone else could take over the job you have been doing over the last few decades.

He told me that retirement comes when the last nail is hammered in the coffin.

Hint to the unretired--never get a job that you have fun at. You might find it difficult to let go (first hand experience here).

... so I carried a pocket watch for years. Now, of course, one doesn't need a watch, since one's phone will constantly tell what time it is, in fifty different cities around the world.

Fifty years in one job, and 51 years married to the same woman... your problem, my friend, is that you lack imagination!

-- Mal

Not only that, I'm lazy. If I get introduced to some fascinating, insanely attractive woman, and she does not happen to be the one I am already married to, I won't chase her, and women never chase me (my wife is nearsighted, which explains her error so long ago--she didn't chase me, but nor did she tell me to get lost, which made her very much the exception to the rule).

Ergo, I am hopelessly stuck in a rut in which I will probably remain for the rest of my days. My motto is "boring is beautiful!"

I can eat the same thing five days in a row. Or multiple times daily. Hey, if I like it, I eat it.

-- Mal

Now be sure to make time for those fun things you and your wife haven’t had time for.

I snuck out without any celebration when I retired, just the way I wanted it. Love doing outdoor (conservation related) volunteer work now, to make up for all the years toiling in a lab and at a desk.

We celebrated 50 years on the job, but nobody was retiring, least of all me. Check back with me in ten years or so. In case I should expire before then, consider it an involuntary premature retirement.

It's debatable as to whether having a job that is mostly fun is a boon or a curse, but so far, the perks far outweigh to negatives. In case all bad things I have heard about travel to Brazil turn out to be true, I reserve the right to modify that statement in three weeks.

Best wishes for your next ten years, and a long enjoyable retirement after that!

I figure that after ten more years, if I never see another EU bureaucrat, it will be too soon.