The people who came to the open house are all dear to me. These are men and women who I have worked with for decades. They have worked hard all their lives and when they became clients they took a leap of faith and trusted me with their life savings. I have watched many of them go through very difficult times over the years. Some have lost a husband or a wife. Others have endured health problems of their own. Many years ago these folks were transformed from being mere clients. Long ago they became friends, which changes the dynamic, not only of our business relationship, but also of a retirement open house gathering. They all told me how much they were going to miss me. They have no idea how much I will miss them.
One of the strange things about this event was seeing so many of my clients in one place at the same time. Normally when I meet with my clients it’s a set appointment for which I have prepared. For the previous couple of days I had looked over their accounts and checked my notes from the previous year’s meeting. I had pictured them in my mind. This was different. I had no idea who would show up at this open house. I would look up and there they would be at the door, one of them after another. A couple of times a wave of panic would come over me as I would look up and see a familiar face of a dear client and momentarily—forget their name!! Readers of a certain age will sympathize with this embarrassing predicament, commonly referred to as a senior moment. Now I’m worried that they may think I’m retiring because of cognitive decline!!
Through the years these people trusted me through times of great uncertainty. Trust so dearly earned is hard to walk away from. A 40 year career is hard to leave. But to everything there is a season…and this season for me is over and a new one is about to begin. I’m just terrible at saying goodbye.
