A Retirement, Change, and Letting Go of Old Cheese…

“Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages, through which we must seek our way, lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley. But always, if we have faith, a door will open for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us.” 

—A.J. Cronin

I came upon that quote in Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, a book given to me during topsy-turvy times at a company I worked at for many years. It came to mind recently as I went back to my former workplace for a celebration of the retirement of an old colleague.

I had visited one time previously, since I’m now in a new position at a different company, but I was still met with the same enthusiasm, warmth, and esteem I had felt before. It was as if everyone was celebrating me for my return—like the prodigal son in the parable, who is received with a robe, a ring, sandals, and a feast. 

Only, I didn’t leave with my inheritance of my own free will. I was ushered out—albeit with a generous compensation package—after twenty-five years at a company where I had shed much blood, sweat, and tears, and wasn’t expecting to leave.

I’ve always been a creature of habit.

I like things to stay constant. I get flustered when they’re not where I expect—whether it’s my keys, people acting in ways I don’t anticipate, or life throwing an unexpected curve, like a layoff after a quarter of a century on the job! (The Trouble with the Curve, by the way, is a great movie starring Clint Eastwood, Justin Timberlake, and Amy Adams—but I digress.) 

If I’m honest, my animosity to change is probably more about fear, complacency, and laziness than anything else. But I’d go out on a limb and say most people feel the same.

People like structure and routine. Change is challenging. It’s why many people avoid spiritual retreats—they know they may be confronted with a reality that they prefer to ignore. And once you know that Truth, you either embrace it or have to reject it, so they rather not attend.   

But change is the only way we grow. And God often slaps us upside the head to wake us out of our slumber by forcing it.

I worked in television news for over 30 years—starting out as a one-man-band reporter right after graduating from the University of Miami. (They now call it an MMJ—Multimedia Journalist—but I was doing it before the acronym existed!)

After a brief (and ill-fated) foray into politics, where I worked as a public information officer for ten long months, I returned to TV news as an assignment desk editor. That role eventually put me on the managerial track: assignment manager and then managing editor. I held the last position for eight years until losing my job in 2022 due to “restructuring”—otherwise known as “you’re making too much money.” 

Talk about God forcing change!

Looking back, I see it as a blessing. My station had layoffs almost every other year during a ten-year period. I thought 2017 would be my last, but God kept me there longer. As managing editor, I did have sway in the stories we covered and the angles we explored, so I made it a mission to leave a meaningful mark on the newscasts we produced.

Still, after 30 years in news—25 of them at the same location where my car practically drove itself each morning after cafecito at my parents’—suddenly I was in my late 50s, with a daughter in law school and two kids in Catholic high schools, one about to graduate and head to college.

I had no choice but to embrace change—willingly or not! 

At first, I decompressed. I didn’t immediately look for work. I updated my LinkedIn, did some freelance writing for a friend’s marketing agency, and started buying and selling used baseball gloves, catchers’ mitts, and bats. Between that and my son’s baseball schedule, I kept busy.

And believe it or not, despite being unemployed, I was at peace. I knew God would provide. My prayers were simple: a good-paying job, something I could be passionate about, and something I could succeed in. That’s it. I was open to wherever God would lead me.

But as the summer slipped by, my severance dwindled, and pressure mounted. September came and went, nothing. October brought an interview, but no job. By November, I reached out to a competing station after hearing their managing editor was retiring. Not even a courtesy interview! By December, our insurance expired, Christmas was looming, and my wife was nervous.

Which made me concerned for the first time.

So, I decided to be proactive. I contacted someone that I had known during my brief stint in politics. He was working for a start-up news station (In retrospect, this was like when Abraham is tired of waiting for a son and forces God’s hand by getting a servant girl pregnant!). He agreed to meet me, despite not remembering me initially. We had lunch and he offered to schedule a meeting with the owner of the station.

Meanwhile, as I waited, I got another call from another job that I had applied for. They asked me to write a mock press release announcing my hire and scheduled an interview for Thursday of that same week. On the same day (Monday), I was contacted by the secretary of the owner of the station to coordinate an interview. It was set for Friday. 

So, I called a friend to tell him about the job opportunities, and he started recruiting me for a job at his company! He was at a marketing agency and said they had a position that would be perfect for me. But, in all honesty, I thought that it would be a waste of time, so I didn’t follow up as he asked.

He called the next day (Tuesday) to say that he talked to his boss, who was really interested. She called me a little while later. We talked for a while. I knew her from my news days, and she asked me for some samples of my writing. I sent her the press release that I had just written and a few blog posts. I told her that I had a couple of interviews lined up, so she asked if we could set up a formal interview with her boss the next day (Wednesday). 

Suddenly, after nine months of nothing, I had three interviews lined up in one week—right before Christmas.

That Wednesday morning, I went to Mass and prayed for clarity.

After Mass, I grabbed breakfast and opened the website of a marketing agency I knew little about. First thing I saw: a fish. Their logo. The caption read, “Our logo is a visual representation of Christ, the driving force behind WOW MKTG…” It explained that the founder had put everything in Christ’s hands when he started the agency, and that every decision was guided by faith.

I was overwhelmed. It felt like God was speaking directly to me: This is where I want you. 

It choked me up. 

I interviewed for the job a couple of hours later and was made an offered that afternoon. It checked all three of my petitions to God, so I accepted.  

Although it was a job I wasn’t looking for—and one that was challenging at first—it was exactly where God put me. I had to learn to step back, to not be the head of every meeting or the loudest voice in the room (which gave me some much-needed humility). The change invigorated me. It gave me new life—energy, meaning, and purpose. I haven’t looked back since.  

Spencer Johnson writes in Who Moved My Cheese, “The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.”

As I shook hands, exchanged pleasantries and questions about when I was going to return, posed for pictures, and said goodbye to my retiring former colleague, I couldn’t help but smile. This could have been me. 

I’m not ready to retire, but God gave me a head start into a new phase of life three years ago. And now I know change isn’t fatal. 

It’s the beginning of something more fruitful—and proof that when God moves our cheese, it’s only because a better feast is waiting somewhere else...