The Foreign Service Journal, January 2006

36 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6 ou’ve flunked retirement!” Vickie Rose, another retired FSO, told me that when I was into the second year of my post-Foreign Service life. But that depends on what one means by retirement. If, for example, one thinks of it as “Still Life with Rocking Chair and Knitting Needles,” then she had a point there. Yes, I had left the Foreign Service with the idea that I would no longer perform work in exchange for a salary. Instead I would do what my heart led me to do, on my own time and on my own terms. And that I was doing ... in a way. At the time Vickie good-humoredly demoted me, I was working in wildlife rehabilitation, tutoring a high school student, spending several hours a week doing non-remunerative media work for a nonprofit group that supports orphans in Baja California, fundraising for a local YMCA, taking classes in veterinary assis- tance, guitar and jewelry-making, and volunteering at the Humane Society and the San Diego Zoo. No, I wasn’t catching up on my reading as I had planned, nor had I been on a single cruise. But I was having fun! And, once I accomplished those missions with finite deadlines, I cut back on my activities and began practicing the art of saying “no,” which is the hardest skill to hone in retirement. (I’m still learning it, truth be told.) I still occasionally find myself chasing the clock — but I’m still having fun. I retired as a public diplomacy officer in 2000, intent on starting the new millennium with a new life. While I loved my career in the Foreign Service, for several years I had found myself longing for a change. I had grown weary of pack-outs and goodbyes. I want- ed to settle somewhere, sink in some deep roots and become part of a community. I wanted to focus on other things: to learn to play the guitar and to create art with my hands. I wanted to mentor children and become a political activist. I wanted to devote more time to reading and to writing poetry. And I especial- ly wanted to spend more time working with animals. So in 1995, after a dream vacation in which I had participated in an Earthwatch project on marine mam- mal research, I began seriously planning my retire- ment. At the end of my tour in Kuwait, I returned to Washington and completed my “high three.” I volun- teered at the National Zoo, which allowed me to net- work with scientists involved in animal research throughout the country. I also had several meetings with my investment broker. Note to younger officers: Thanks to my moth- er’s persistent needling, when I started serving over- F O C U S O N F S R E T I R E M E N T S ORT OF R ETIRED IN S AN D IEGO “ Y O NE RETIREE HAS FOUND THAT SAYING “ NO ” IS THE HARDEST SKILL TO HONE IN LIFE AFTER THE F OREIGN S ERVICE . B Y M ILLIE M C C OO