When I first heard the term “flunking retirement,” I thought it was a phrase made up by Betsy McCreary to describe her husband, the late (and great!) organist-choirmaster of St. Andrew’s Cathedral and my predecessor as Chapel Organist at Iolani School, John McCreary.

That is because after a long and illustrious career at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and Iolani School, John took an interim position at St. James’ Episcopal Church in New York City, on Madison Avenue at 71st Street. It’s one of the largest Episcopal churches in New York City, with a large Schoenstein instrument called The Bicentennial Organ.

Well, it turns out Betsy didn’t make up the term after all—I just did a Google search on “flunking retirement,” and found all kinds of books on the subject, like “Retirement Fail: The 9 Reasons People Flunk Post-Work Life and How to Ace Your Own” by Greg Sullivan. Or how about this blog post by David Bartlett, former faculty member of the Yale Divinity School, “Flunking Retirement,” and how he describes retirement as the “eighth day” in life’s week, with a “combination of regret, resignation, and faith.”

When I left my long-time position as Organist at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu in 2012, in many ways I thought of my next chapter in life as retirement. Over the next 7 years I became a substitute organist—when other organists went on vacation or got sick—in effect, playing when I wanted to, not because I had to.

Hey, just last week, I attended a webinar on being just that: a substitute organist. Too bad I didn’t go to this webinar seven years ago! I learned the hard way to ask questions like:

Are the hymns announced? Does the congregation sing all the verses? What rhythm do they use to sing the Doxology? What memory level can I use? When do I start the prelude: before the service or on the dot of the starting time? HOW DO YOU TURN ON THE ORGAN?

Well, my time for “cooking in someone else’s kitchen” (as I describe subbing in a strange church) is now coming to an end. Tomorrow I’ll be attending the 9:00 am service at Nuuanu Congregational Church, which is the last service that my dear friend, Jieun Kim Newland, will be playing before she and her husband move to El Paso, TX. Oh, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed and appreciated her presence in Hawaii the last few years. We have collaborated on many projects together and have enjoyed each other’s company immensely. Just this week we had a farewell luncheon with Karl Bachman:

And last month, Jieun and I had a luncheon date for just the two of us:

Of course, all this is leading up to my big announcement, and on why I won’t be so available to drop everything at the drop of a hat to sub for someone. You guessed it, I’m taking Jieun’s position at Nuuanu Congregational Church starting July 26! Jieun has already obtained a new position at Peace Lutheran Church in nearby Las Cruces, NM.

Yup, playtime for me is over! But hey, the church is only 4 minutes away from my condo, and I won’t need to play for any choir rehearsals!

And I promise to visit Jieun in Texas when the pandemic is over!