"You have just completed your 300 page autobiography. Please submit page 217."
This was a period of great change in my life. I went from being a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps to being an international diplomat and statesman. Instead of rising at five every morning and driving to the base, I would wake up at nine and go to the airport. Instead of planning military exercises and devising policy for my men, I would plan agreements between foreign countries and my own. Instead of always preparing for the next war, I was always preparing for the next election. Neither of these careers was easy, but that's not why I was born. It has always been one of my deepest desires to accomplish big things in my life, and I don't mean running 5k's to boost my self-esteem after watching my life pass by all too quickly. Whether it was leading thousands of Marines into battle or forging trade agreements with Germany, I wanted to make my life count for more than just my own satisfaction. And perhaps that is why throughout my career I never chose the easy way out. Maybe that's why never a thought about retirement ever entered my head. It's not that I was not planning ahead. It's that I was planning ahead for something most people don't. While other people make choices centered on when they could end their career, I was always planning on the next big thing. For a career spent serving others, it just seemed odd, foreign even, to say, "enough" when I still had so much energy, so much vitality left to offer. No, I would not, will not, quit until I die.
That's good stuff!
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