By J.B. Lester
By the time you read this, I will have turned 75 years old. Three quarters of a century. Wow. Remember when we were in our 20s, seventy-five years old was ancient. The age of grandparents. Reality check: I am a grandparent of five wonderful children. I graduated from college, started two successful publications, got married twice, fathered two great daughters, did my fair share of traveling, had a hole-in-one, navigated through some serious health concerns, and now am retired and turning 75. Wow. It’s been a life well lived.
It’s times like these, we look back. Maybe because backward encompasses more years than forward at this point. One of the best things about getting old is the bookcase full of memories you have to enjoy. My career as a publisher, writer, photographer, artist, all have made me very happy. My relationships with spouses, children, grandchildren, family, friends, have created enough recollections to last another 75 years. I won’t be around then, but it is safe to say that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have some memories of me to cherish.
When you retire, you have plenty of time between yard work and vacuuming, to reflect. I have been so fortunate to have followed the path I set out for myself as a child. Hard to believe, but when I was in grade school, a friend and I wrote a group of stories in what we called the “Monster Club.” My friend became a lawyer and I continued writing. Lots of poetry in my early years, then articles and photos for my college newspaper. Upon graduation, I started up the local newspaper in my hometown of Webster Groves called the Webster Times. With the help of college friends and soon to be more partners, we expanded and became the Webster-Kirkwood Times. These folk would be my work family for the next 17 years until I left to begin the Healthy Planet magazine. Twenty-five years later, I sold the magazine to a friend (who is running it now), and I retired. I still work a bit for the magazine as you can see from this column. I have done what I started out to do, write… and many years of photography (a few award-winning shots). I also taught photojournalism at the college level for a few years. Something I never planned on but enjoyed so much.
They say your job shouldn’t define you, but I feel working for myself all these years certainly has. Don’t get me wrong, owning your own business comes with plenty of ups and downs. Some sleepless nights and some personal rewards to warm the heart. So many great people I worked with became family as well. Each person a building block of two popular publications that have helped so many people over the years. And both are still publishing and continue to serve the public.
My family has brought me so much joy. Having two daughters and no boys, my daughters made up for that by giving me the gift of four grandsons and one granddaughter. So, balance has been restored. Sometimes at 75 you look back and wonder, what would I have done differently? I am not saying I don’t have a few regrets, but the positives greatly outweigh the negatives. As I look toward the next 10 years of my life, I can only hope that the moments ahead are as good as those from the past. I’ll say it again — a life well lived. Seventy-five and counting, one chapter at a time.