One of the local pillars of our profession [he has all the awards, scholarships and rooms named in his honor, etc,] called and took me to lunch today. He wanted me to know that everyone missed my contributions, formal and informal, and wanted to convey their respects. He relayed his concern and that of a number of peers that I had not been seen around.

I was suprised that anyone noticed or cared. More work to do on the old self-esteem, I guess.

He offered to be a confidential sounding-board on whatever I would like to talk about. I gave him a few details and an overview of my experiences over the last year or so. His comment, "Jeez, you've been hammered! No wonder all those disappointments hit you so hard."

We talked about some of the practical challenges and what I decided to do about them. He shared that some of them are why he decided to retire, too.

It was nice to get assurance I was not the Lone Ranger and that I had the respect of at least some peers for whom I, in turn, had respect.