It's time

I've been living without my children for the past several days.  They are all off at camp.  My eldest comes back on Saturday.  It seems like a little taste of retirement, or semi-retirement anyway.  My wife and I have enjoyed being able to read without the TV being on, going out to dinner and seeing R-rated movies without the kids, et cetera.  But I'll definately be glad to get my kids back, and I'm not sure even after this week that I'm going to be ready when my eldest heads off to college.  I expect that when the time comes, I will be ready, just as a friend of mine finally decided he was truly ready to retire a couple of months ago.

It seems like I've known him forever, but it's only been slightly more than a decade.  He was one of my mentors, first in IHE, and then in HL7.  Back when I started, I knew precious little about the sausage making that is standards.  He's taught me quite a bit over the years, and I sure have missed him since his semi-retirement a few years back.  I still get to see him every now and then.

Somebody once told me that if you make it until fifty without growing up, you don't have to.  I think it was him.  I know he succeeded, he's managed to retire and still hasn't grown up.  I hope I'm as successful in my life.  I look forward to spending more time with him in my other emerging passion, as an engaged patient. What I really like is that even though he's retiring, he's planning on taking his rather detailed knowledge about HealthIT and standards into the engaged patient sphere.  And I know he won't take any crap about "you don't understand how IT works", because he did it for 40+ years, all of it in Healthcare. And the world is better for it.  He's still involved enough that I expect we'll still be running into each other at some of the same venues, and heading out to sushi to BS about days past.  And frankly, I hope just to spend more time being friends.


I don't believe in gold watches.  For me, it's gold Harleys.

This certifies that 

Glen Marshall, Unaffiliated

Has hereby been recognized for a lifetime of contributions to Healthcare and HealthIT.