After being asked to retire, I discovered the stories I was told by my former assistant, who had retired voluntarily and got the retirement party and the whole package, were true.  It’s hard to retire.  Retire by its very definition means to withdraw or retreat.  After 33 plus years of working hard moving fast, going forward, and spending my every day with people who relied on me, “retreat” and “withdraw” were not words that came to mind when I awoke on January 4 and realized I had no place to go.  But the surprising revelation wasn’t about the work or the pace or the need to be needed.  The surprising revelation came a few days later when I was out picking up a few groceries for me, my wife and our son – the lone soldier still living home with us.  Driving home, a car driven by an elderly gentleman…