By Jan Penton-Miller

Columnist

When I awakened this morning I realized that something was different. It’s not unusual to wake up next to Mike, but today my first thought was that it wasn’t for just a week. Mike turned in his keys to Big Blue, his Danny Herman truck, and today is the first day of his retirement.

We thought he would keep working for a while longer, but a series of events caused us to realize that it was time. He left his truck in Lebanon, TN, at one of the terminals and drove a rental car home.  

Some of my friends laughingly told me to get ready for an adjustment period. I’m sure that will be the case for both of us, but I’ve been excitedly planning trips and getting tickets for upcoming events. 

We both enjoy the Brownstone Center for the Performing Arts at PRCC. It is such a beautiful venue, and the acoustics are awesome so we purchased season tickets. I know we will enjoy some of the events more than others, but it is also a way of showing support.

 We are excited that Tim Tebow will open up the season on Aug.29. We love that he has never been ashamed of his faith, although he took a lot of flack for it at times. I think these tickets will be gone in a flash so if you want to see him tickets will become available online on August 14th. This event is free, but you will still need a ticket to enter.

  MercyMe is one of our favorites so we saw that they were coming our way in October and purchased tickets for their concert at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. We are both music lovers, and love Contemporary Christian music in particular so this one will be fun. 

I actually saw MercyMe years ago when they were first starting out at a small venue in Jackson, Mississippi with my daughter, Melinda. The place was totally engulfed in worship by the time the evening was over, and Melinda and I still talk about what a great night that was.

I’m sure there will be adjustments to make. Mike and I are both used to spending one week a month together and three weeks apart so things will be a little different, but I think the good things will outweigh any negatives. As I say this I can just see my friends rolling their eyes.

 I followed Mike to the Hertz place this morning to drop off his rental car, and we were pleasantly surprised to get a discount for turning the car in early. I am already beginning to think like a retiree’s wife. Looking for a bargain!

Our plan is to pinch those pennies for things that don’t matter much and save for the fun things. I have actually been doing some research on painless ways to save money, but that will have to be another column.

Write to Jan Penton-Miller at jpentonauthor@gmail.com