A Springboard Event

In January of 1996 the company I worked for was acquired by one of Ross Perot's gigantic corporations and underwent the typical remake to mirror the image of the new owner. We went from a small, privately held firm of about 120 people to being a part of an international company of many thousands.

The upside to such an acquisition is typically one of financial solvency and the adoption of a series of new tools, systems, processes and a remake of the culture. In this case, I had no interest in joining this particular firm for reasons that really no longer matter. As soon as the change was announced I began laying plans for my departure and next adventure.

When the changeover took place, the new owners, in a moment of generosity granted us all our full year's worth of vacation effective immediately. I think this was meant as an act of thoughtfulness and an opportunity for folks to take a little time off to readust to the new much more rigid culture. I took them up on it. I took my entire four weeks and disappeared for the month of February. I then returned. And quit.

I spent that year, from the first of March through about mid-September working with a partner to create a website devoted to boating in the salt water of the Northwest. We flew all over the place, from Olympia to Point Roberts, taking pictures of all the islands and bays and marinas and then built what would still be considered a first class website today. It subsequently sold to a couple of ambitious guys from Microsoft, but it kept me busy for months before that.

What I learned from that spring and summer, in addition to how to build websites and how to try to sell advertising on them, was that what seems like a lot of time when you are at the beginning of it somehow turns into not very much as you near the end. I promised myself that if I ever again was offered a chance to have time all to me, just to do what I wanted with it, I'd not waste as second of it, but dive right in and get busy.

This past Wednesday I was relieved of command at my job. Here I am, with time handed me, and another opportunity to invest my energy into the things I am deeply interested in. So I'm getting started.

There are a couple of ski trips in the next week. There is a lot of writing to ramp back up and complete. There is the opportunity to learn some new things - like classes in writing and publishing, like piano lessons. A chance to focus on my own health and spend time outdoors and get together with family and friends - this list goes on and on.

Expect a bit more activity here on this blog in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted on things as we progress, share a few bits of writing with you, take you along on some of these terrific ski trips and generally just do a better job of connecting with the rest of the world.

As I was describing all this to my son Zeke, he said to me, "Wow - this is really a springboard event for you!". I like that phrase. It sort of sums up where I am right now and offers a picture of what this means. I'm on the end of the board, bouncing up and down, trying to decide if it will be a back flip or a full gainer of a one and a half. And even if it ends up in a belly flop, I can't wait to get busy!!!!