Your memory is a monster; you forget— it doesn’t. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you or hides things from you—and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you! - John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany
Summary
Retiring My Father's Letters: A Personal Guide was written for the newly retired or those on the cusp of retirement. A successful post-work life requires more than paying close attention to good health and financial planning. One of the pillars of contentment is having some kind of purpose. And one of the keys to unlocking this truth is looking back for the patterns in your own life. Some of the answers may be as near as a closet, an attic, or wherever you store your personal artifacts.
The book describes my father and his times through his letters during two periods of his life: as a combat infantryman in World War II, and his last five years spent empowering his family, taking care of his parents and coping with a desk job that he never liked. He did all these things with candidness, wit, and wisdom even in the face of the cancer that would claim his life prematurely. The book highlights the unique property of letters that serve as meaningful chronicle of a life lived and remembered.
On a different level Retiring My Father's Letters parallels my own journey through the portal between the end of work and retirement. It began with a pivotal career change when I left a decent job in my early 30s and returned to college for a master's degree in gerontology. Though this degree never manifested into prosperous employment it did prove to be enriching, especially as I approached this new stage in my life.
Book Format
In approximately 18,000 words these three themes intertwine in a format of five chapters written as organized notes rather than full essays. Interspersed within are photographs, cartoons*, and book references, which make the story of my father Glenn R. Browne Jr. more than memoir of one individual but of life in the Midwest circa 1980. Retiring My Father's Letters further defines a path that others may want to consider exploring, as they ponder what they should be doing with all this extra time on their hands.
The Author
Murray Browne is author of two books, The Book Shopper: A Life in Review (2009) published by Paul Dry Books and Down & Outbound: A Mass Transit Satire (2016) by Muted Horn Communications. He is also co-author of Understanding Search Engines: Mathematical Perspective (2005) published by the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Since 2019, he has owned and operated Destination: Books a popup book stall in Atlanta and since 2008 he has edited The Book Shopper blog. You can contact him directly at murray.browne905 AT gmail.com.
*Excerpted from the graphic novel MacDoodle St. (NY Review Comics-2019). ©️1978 & 2019 Mark Alan Stamaty. Reprinted with permission. I also have obtained the rights for the book cover art "You Can’t Lay Down your Memory Chest of Drawers", 1991, fabricated 2008. Tejo Remy (Dutch Born 1960). High Museum of Atlanta.
