Retired Again!

I officially retired from CalFire in 2009. For 6 of the last 7 years I worked in the 911 dispatch center. Also located in that center...really a room 30ft x 30ft...is the US Forest Service. The Forest Service has a program called the A.D. program where they temporarily hired qualified individuals to fill in during fires, or when they're shorthanded, etc, so when I retired off one side of the room, I just walked over and sat down on the other side of the room on an on call basis. I have come back to work for them each year since then, and this year was no exception. My assignments, over the years, have varied from a few days to one stretch when I worked 3-4 days a week for 18 months. This year they wanted someone for night shift from July 1st on, so they called me, and I took the assignment, with this being my last night. Since July 1st I have worked 74 out of 82 possible nights, all 12 hour shifts.

Long ago it became a joke that at the end of my summer/assignment that I was retiring again, and they'd give me a cake on my last day. As time went along the cakes turned into joke moments, and one year they just handed me a cake mix in a box, and a canister of frosting, and told me to make my own cake. Another year the "cake" was a small cardboard box with frosting and decorations. It's been a few years since anybody did anything, but this year they resurrected the tradition. This was unexpected, and I appreciated the gesture. We all had a piece of cake, and then they said they'd be waiting for my retirement next year.