"Good morning Kyle, hope you are doing well this morning."
"Good morning Carol, I am well, thank you." Carol has been my executive assistant since I took over the business when my dad died. She had been his assistant for many years prior and had been with the company for more than three decades. "What is on the schedule today?"
"You have a call with the bank at 8:30, Dwayne at 9:00 to discuss changes on the shop floor, a meeting with Megan and me at 10, lunch with the sales team, and at some point in the afternoon, you need to see Joe in shipping.
At 10, Megan and Carol come into the office. Megan has a fresh cup of coffee for me, she knows me all too well now. We sit around the small conference table in my office.
"Ok, so what do we need to discuss Carol?"
"Well, Kyle, I think it is time to revisit my retirement. I think it is time for me to step down."
I let out a big sigh. I knew this day was coming. Carol had been planning to retire when my dad suddenly died of a heart attack. Dad was well past normal retirement age at that point; however, he had shown no signs of slowing down. Carol pushed her retirement back to stay and help finish the transition of me taking over the family business that was already in progress but got suddenly accelerated. She had then planned a retirement date when Emily, my wife, was killed in a traffic accident. Again, Carol felt a sense of responsibility and loyalty to the company and stayed on to help until I got back on my feet. Megan had now been working part-time with Carol as her understudy and part-time as my personal assistant taking care of my house. Along the way, Megan had become much more than my assistant but was now also my girlfriend.
"Carol, I don't know where to begin. Maybe thank you is where I should start. I don't know where I or this business would be without you."
"Thanks, Kyle, you and your family have been way too kind to Michael and me over the years. But, unlike the previous time we have talked about this, I now feel very confident that you will be in good hands. Megan here, as you well know, has learned how things work and, in my opinion, will do a good job keeping you organized and able to run the business well."
"Thanks, Carol," said Megan "I know you mean a lot to Kyle...and me. Without you, I would have never met this big galoot." Megan reaches over and puts her hand on mine. Carol is one of the few people in the company who knows about our relationship. Megan and I have been very careful to keep our relationship private and when she's in the office, to keep that time professional.
"So, Carol, what are your plans?" I ask.
"Well, I was thinking of retiring at the end of May. That gives us a little under two months to make the final transition.
"I think that is a good plan, Carol. We can announce the transition next week at the staff meeting. You know..." I said thinking out loud "...we should do something special. Since it is going to be around Memorial Day, why don't we have a big company picnic we can all bring our families and send you off right."
"Carol, you could bring your kids and grandchildren, oh it will be fun," Megan added.
"Yes, I like that idea" Carol replied. I knew she would since family is an important part of her life.
"Sounds like I have my first major event to plan," said Megan. "Anything special you want at the party, Carol? Food, activity?"
"No, just everyone there is fine with me."
"Ok, I'll get working on things then. I have a few ideas." With that, we broke up our meeting and continued with the day.
That night over dinner Megan and I started to discuss what this would mean to us. She was most concerned about her education. She had one more class to go to finish her AA degree. After looking at the course schedule, we realized there was an evening class that fall that she could use to complete her degree. The other things were more around taking care of the house and the like. We figured we could balance home life and work-life like any other working couple. Megan did suggest that we hire her sister Ginny to come and clean once a week since she needed a little pocket money.
That Saturday, we decided to take a lazy morning and headed into the old part of town for brunch. After we ate, we started just to walk around town and enjoy each other's company.
"You know babe, if I am going to be in the office full time, I am going to need to expand my wardrobe. I can't show up in jeans all the time." She looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes and flashed here wonderful smile that hooked me on her from the beginning.