Following up on what you read above, there is a certain sadness about Bob Barker's upcoming retirement - almost as if life is taking away something or someone we cherish and are so used to for so long.
But we always have to look at the viewpoint of the one doing the change or retirement. And as described above, it is getting harder to keep with his routine at age 83 - but he has enjoyed every minute of his 50-year television career.
I consider this to be the only proper way to retire. Very few people, if following this reasoning, retire "properly". Much of it is out of our control. The only way to retire in the proper manner is to leave the job or field that you've enjoyed working at, and are a proven winner at.
Here's a passage I wrote last year on my defunct website's "About Me" page, which clued people in on my job goals:
The perfect job would be mine not foremost for the money, but for the reward in appreciating results of hard work. It's key to see your handiwork for more than five minutes... Feeling that you've accomplished nothing permanent over time leaves a very empty feeling... We do have to allow for money to pay bills; but I for one appreciate the long-term benefits job accomplishment can bring; it's more rewarding than anything else.
You will not see me grinning for the camera, holding a retirement watch in the shape of an aircraft, in the retirement section of the paper. As for retiring from a video career? You'd see a photo, and I'd probably be crying, but only because I would really miss what I do. The retirement would likely be forced, because I'd want to keep going until the undertaker called me.
Bob Barker was never forced to do Price Is Right or Truth Or Consequences. He did it because he loved the genre, the contestants, the fans, and the attention. It added quality to the quality person he already was, and still is. For this, we must respect his decision.
Decisions like that are also ample reason to start investing in TiVo's! But for Bob, it would be well worth the while.
