Chapter 3

 I recently retired after a 32-year career, 30 of which I worked for the Federal government. Most of my Federal time was spent working for the U.S. Geological Survey. I loved my time at the Survey. I worked with a fantastic group of people on a fantastic journey to predict what hurricanes would do to our nation’s coastlines. I often saw the impact of many of these storms before. The diversity of the changes along the shore when one of these storms made landfall were varied and heartbreaking, for individuals as well as the environment. And yet, Nature always recovered, or she found a new path. Her resilience is inspiring and beautiful to watch. She doesn't bemoan the loss of a marsh buried in sand or the break in an island. She returns to the path she was on, or creates a new one. It is we who build our castles and expect them to last forever. 

  A barrier island is, by nature, designed to move. It rolls over upon itself in retreat from storm surge. Sand from the beach or dunes is washed over the island and deposited in a new location. That new deposit becomes habitat for new communities. A loss in one location becomes a new beginning in another. Nature will adjust to the change and continue on. It will do the same as sea level rises. It has always shifted; it will always continue to do so... or at least try.

 It is only when we build fixed structures on our coastlines that we realize how truly dynamic this system is. We build castles on sand dunes and expect the sea to leave them untouched. It doesn't, and it never will. To believe it will do so is a fool's errand. Our planet is dynamic and the ground we stand on is always shifting. We can't always perceive that shift, but at our coastlines we can often see the changes right before our eyes. Sometimes year to year, sometimes in the blink of an eye.

  We can learn a lot from Mother Nature. She is fickle and ever changing. Our lives, like the ground we stand on, is ever shifting, no matter how much we wish things were the way they were before. We don't always recognize the change as it happening, as it is usually slow in most places. But sometimes the change is sudden and catastrophic. And when that happens, we sit up and take notice.

  

  Sometimes it’s hard to keep up, to find that steady ground on which to stand and catch our breath, to find our center and get our feet beneath us. Technology changes are coming at an ever-increasing speed. Political changes are sometimes faster than, or not as fast as, we'd hope. The climate is changing in ways we can't fully predict. Knowing and excepting things will not always be the way they were will help. If we learn not to build our castles on sand dunes, we will be more resilient, and recover more quickly from change, planned or not, in our lives. 

  Why Chapter 3? We like to divide our time into segments, be that our day, our week, our year, or our life.  

  I see the first chapter of my life as the time from when I was born until I graduated from college. It was a time of learning, and growing. A time when everything was new and changing. It was what I expected and I shifted with those sands easily.

  Chapter 2 spans my working career. I didn't change jobs as often as most people and sometimes resisted it. I started by working for the Department of Defense right out of graduate school, worked a short time in private industry, then returned to the Department of Interior for nearly 29 years. My time there, with the Survey, was always changing and evolving. Each year brought new challenges and changing times. No two were the same. Those who were there before me left, and new faces joined the Center. Times were busy and times were slower. The work was always interesting and carried with it the satisfaction that I was doing something that helped protect lives and property by understanding what had happened in the past, and using that knowledge to predict what would happen in the future. But as steady as those sands have been, the sands there were shifting, too. 

  It comes down to this: My sands, our sands, are shifting. The work at the Survey will continue, just as a highway continues across the landscape. I have chosen to exit the ramp presented to me. The sign beside the road says "Chapter 3" and points in a different direction across a landscape we've not traveled before. The work at the Survey is no less important because I have stepped aside. Many capable and talented people will continue on. My path is a different one now, though I will continue to follow their progress for a long as I can see them, and that will be a long time indeed.

  Edward and I have planned for this for some time. We have set out on this path perhaps a little earlier than others before us. We are ready. The ground is by no means completely solid, but we hope it will be more like the Rockies then Jockey's Ridge. We have set out guide posts to help us on our journey, we have our walking sticks to steady ourselves when we encounter the unexpected, and we are ready for this next chapter in our lives.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

      I took the one less traveled by,

      And that has made all the difference."  - Robert Frost  

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