Treasure from a treasure

I have a wonderful friend I've met through work who has retired. This morning, I was able to meet him (bright and damn freaking early) for breakfast along with a colleague of mine.

we chatted up a storm, traded work horror stories and laughter, in between scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and for me, diet coke. Seeing our friend again lifted my spirits even at the ass crack of dawn.

He's one of those people who's life, glass, whatever, is always half full. No matter what comes his way. He may get down, he may be disappointed at times, but I've never seen him crack or despair or fail to move forward in life. We all wish we still had him to work with.

Retirement for him is exactly the way I envisioned it should be for all of America. Work hard all your life, save some money, love your family, raise some kids... spend your retirement with friends, freedom, family, adventure, etc...

He spends his mornings hunting or just bird/animal watching (ok, so in MY retirement I'm not going to be hunting, that's for sure, but you get my point). He's also taken a new hobby, he's fairly crafty. I've always known him as the picture taker, hunter, etc, now, I know him as the crafter. When he arrived at the Diner he gave me a gift, a wonderful gift of friendship from one good soul to another.

It's amazing the connections you can make in your life, even through the workplace, I had just 7 short months working with him too.

Our other friend had already received a similar gift, so he knew what was up. In the picture is one of the latest from his new venture. He and his wife have a kiln, a small one but still, a kiln. She used to do stained glass, now he's sort of taken up the trade. He's been creating glass 'figures' or plaques and mounting them on clear, opaque or 'watercolor' glass, which is mounted on old cigar boxes, to create a treasure box.

In the big picture is the one he gave to me. It's incredible, he didn't even know I love leaves, the fall is such a breathtaking time in my mind. He's made dozens of these and I'm thinking of perhaps picking up a few as gifts. They are all so unique, so beautiful. I've put a few pictures in of his list of finished ones just for a quick insight into the depth and breadth of these lovely treasures.

May our retirement be that fulfilling regardless of what life does or doesn't bring our way. May my desire to fulfill my left brain be just as important as my desire to feed my right brain long into the future. May we make wise decisions about the things that shouldn't matter (like money and work) so that the things that do matter are always around. And may those I hold dear always have friends like this, genuine souls whose glass is always half full.

May our treasure box always contain treasures of the heart.