My other career

I retired from my corporate job several years ago and have now taken up a new career as a school bus driver.  It works well for me, as I have summers, weekends and holidays off.  I enjoy the kids on my bus, I do a good service for the community, I get paid reasonably well, and I have a skill I could take elsewhere should I ever need to move.  I don't know how many years I'll want to do this, but for now it's good, steady work -- there is no threat of being laid off due to downsizing, and kids will always need to be driven to school regardless of the condition of the economy.


I have also begun another, unexpected career in my post-retirement years.  I've become an ordained Christian minister, which allows me to perform legal wedding ceremonies anywhere in the U.S.  It happened three years ago when my son asked me to officiate his wedding.  I thought he was joking, since I was not ordained at the time and had no intention of attending seminary to become so.  He said he had already looked into that and yes, I could become ordained quite easily.  I guess it's a result of our nation's first amendment concept of "separation of church and state."  The state says any ordained clergy may perform a wedding ceremony, but it's up to the many and varied religious organizations to decide whom and how they will ordain.  Most organized churches require a minister to earn advanced degrees in theology, while other organizations consider different qualifications.  While I have no intention of pastoring a church, I do take my ordination seriously. 

It's nice being a part of someone's "big day."

In addition to officiating my son's wedding ceremony on a North Carolina beach in 2011, I was honored to recently be asked to do the same for my niece on a quaint, covered bridge in Arizona.  Both ceremonies were short but, I think, meaningful.  I enjoyed incorporating the important, legal elements into the ceremonies along with a few inspiring words and interesting, personal touches.  Both events were beautiful and lots of fun.  Will I do another one?  We'll just have to see what happens.  

Perhaps my niche is performing weddings in fun settings like beaches and parks, in backyards and bridges.  Here it is then:  If anyone is interested in a short, private, Christian wedding ceremony performed by an ordained lay minister in a non-traditional setting, give me a call.  My wedding career may be over, or it may have just begun.

God bless you, and thanks for reading my posts.