The fortune cookie was right

Y’all. It has been a crazy month. Crazy.

Here’s the big news: After working for General Motors for 35 years, Sean’s hanging up the slide rule and coming home.

Sean’s last day at GM was July 1. Technically, he’s on the payroll until August 1 because he’s using all his vacation days this month but he’s not answering emails or phone calls or worrying about work for the first time ever.

Two of our favorites! Mary and Liz.

You might be thinking, “Wow! I didn’t know Sean was retiring!” Well, don’t feel too badly because we didn’t either until just over a month ago.

A backstory: in January, GM went through a bit of downsizing and Sean was moved from his job at one plant to a completely different job at the other plant here in Lansing. He went from working four 12-hour days to six 12-hour days. We were thankful to the powers-that-be in the two Lansing plants who made this happen, because it kept Sean in town and at his same level. He knew plenty of people who were out of jobs and even more who were demoted, so we were very grateful for this provision.

However, the job he was assigned is the job he had attempted to avoid his entire career. It’s a job that he’s not best suited for and when he realized what was happening, he said we’d give it six months and evaluate at that time.

It took about three months for Mr. Glass-Half-Full to realize this job was turning him into Mr. Glass-Half-Empty. The hours were crazy, there was talk of him going on 3^rd shift and the stress of this position really got to him.

Great friend and boss, Jeff.

What does stressed-out Sean look like? It looks like him tailgating people. Y’all, that’s how I drive. I’m the driver who does not believe the journey is the point. Getting there is the point. Sean is the complete opposite. Trust me when I say in our nearly 27 years of marriage Sean has NEVER tailgated anyone, not even in crazy Atlanta traffic when I’d be steaming that people were cutting in front of him. He lives by the Three Second Rule. He is the calmest, safest driver I know. And all that changed. He began accelerating quickly and braking hard. And he rode people’s bumpers. I actually started holding onto the door handle just like I did when the kids were learning to drive.

In March/April we started talking about finding something else in GM. But there weren’t any open doors. By May we’d tossed around the R word and by June, he told his boss he planned to retire July 1.

So, trust me when I say we were as surprised by this as everyone else.

We went for Chinese food just before we made the decision to retire. I don’t know who writes the fortune cookie fortunes but boy howdy did this one hit home:

Life will soon become interesting

That, my friends, is what you call an understatement.

Friends from Lansing Delta Township, Sean's last workplace with GM. Ian (second from left) is Sean's last boss. Sean got to know Luke (third from left) when he first moved up to Michigan in 2005. Sean has always appreciated his friendship. 

I got there a little late...