After a warm sendoff from my colleagues, I turned the wheel toward my new life. Yes, I think that what comes after one retires qualifies as new.
Yet, I turned the wheel toward the past, to the land of my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents. To the land that now embraces my father. To the land where I will build a home.
Home that first night into this new life was the Village Inn just south of Harrisonburg, VA, where I'd stayed before, and which welcomes my canines. It's older, with its own restaurant; definitely try the turkey.
It was early, but the rain was coming down in sheets, and after the fun of the warm sendoff, and the excitement that retirement is really happening, I was tired. After I checked in the rain stopped, the sun came out...and a brilliant double rainbow appeared.
A good omen for this new adventure, in this, my first home in the new life.
