Doster Fitzgerald is taking a break from his weekly column to focus on writing a couple of books.   The Rooster has been a friend ever since we took a Dale Carnegie course together over 30 years ago. He graduated with honors. I got a certificate of attendance.

I never mastered the techniques they taught for remembering names. I found out it’s easier to just call the guys Bubba, Slick, Chief, or Doc. For the ladies, I usually just say Ma’am. I have some longtime friends and family that I don’t know their real names. Maybe I’ll take that Carnegie course again one day. It’s probably too late to ask for a refund.

At the end of 2015, I retired from banking. The first 33 years were with Bank of Dooly. The last two were with South Georgia Banking Company which acquired Bank of Dooly. Before that, I worked five years with my cousin, Rooney Bowen. He owned the Chevrolet dealership in Vienna, plus the funeral home that was next door. I have sometimes been introduced as a recovering car salesman.  Rehab efforts continue and have been partially successful.

I’m not sure what direction this column will take. We’ll just see which way the wind is blowing and try to follow it. We may even pull our caps down a little tighter and walk straight into it. There are times it feels good to have the wind at our backs, times it feels good blowing in our faces. We’ll give them both a chance.

When I retired from banking, I began painting our home. That experience was so thrilling that I wrote a book about it, Lessons from The Ladder. It’s about ladder safety and painting, with some correlations to life that I call Paint Can Theology. I plan to write a few columns based on the book.

Lessons of other varieties may be an ongoing theme, such as Lessons from The Lenders. I was known as the banker who couldn’t say, “no”. I turned down a couple of loan requests, but that was over a 35-year period. When I announced my retirement, the bank examiners threw a party.

Perhaps I’ll write a column on Lessons from The Bladder. Dr. Lyons has taught me more about urology than I wanted to know. I found out that a digital exam has nothing to do with mathematics. Boy was that a shocker. My friend and managing editor, Angela Barentine, may not let me run that column.  She already nixed the idea of using Tom Selleck’s picture for my photo.

I’ll work toward a column that is entertaining enough to keep you awake, but we’ll delve into some serious issues at times. If you are not sure which category a column falls in, then send me a short email. Sometimes I’m not certain whether I’m serious or if I’m kidding. My wife, Jane, usually knows, so we can always ask her.

I sure hope you’ll come back next week.

Neil