“If you know, you know,” is a sentence that I used in the past few weeks when I talked about the time of my retirement. Recently, things have changed that are most important to me. The softness of the bathroom mat under my bare feet in the morning has become more important than the daily outlook from the Storm Prediction Center. It has become more difficult to pull myself away from the bird song in the back yard to dress for work.
A few years ago, the thought of retirement sounded good, but there was fear of the Grand Ennui. I'm no longer afraid of the Grand Ennui. There are many things in my life that I want to do, but the work leaves me without enough time to do it. I completely understand what people mean when they say that they want to spend more time with their wife, family and friends. My career at Wday and the forum was a happy opportunity and a privilege, but it is now time to retire.
John Wheeler is the chief meteorologist for Wday, a position he has had since May 1985. Wheeler grew up in the south in Louisiana and Alabama and quotes the move of his family to the middle west as important for the development of his fascination for weather and climate. Wheeler lived as a teenager in Wisconsin and Iowa. He visited the Iowa State University and in 1984 achieved a BS degree in meteorology. Wheeler worked for about a year at Woi TV in Central Iowa before moving to Fargo and WDay.