June 3, 2022 - Unplanned Reactions

My last post announced my retirement from work. Let’s face it, I let a couple hundred people know. I announced it here, and I also sent a personal goodbye note to my SAP colleagues from my SAP email address. So far so good, right?

Well, I decided I should update my LinkedIn profile. On any given day, I receive copious amounts of outreach from people that I don’t know. It could be from new professional connections, recruiters trying to sway me away from SAP, and aggressive sales people trying to sell me their services. In a nutshell, my LinkedIn presence needed updating. I knew a quick way to fall of their radar: I would announce my retirement.

A funny thing happened. First, I didn’t think about the thousands of professional connections that I have made over the last thirty years. Let’s face it, they are not typically friends that I interact with on a “social” basis. One can lose track of the thousands of people you have interacted with through work. I know I did.

Second, I didn’t think anything beyond innocently announcing that I was retiring from SAP. It is not exactly the platform that I would choose to say that I am retiring because of cancer.

For the last few days, I have received hundreds of well wishes, congratulations, and likes on my status. Many have said “congratulation, or “I’m jealous”, or that “you’ll be back”. This is all meant in the most heartfelt way. But it is odd. It almost feels phony. Should I tell these people?? Tell them that their is no place for jealousy because of the reason why I retired.

Don’t worry! I’m not. I’m not making any proclamations on LinkedIn. I have this very platform for that type of dialogue. But, there have been few people from years passed that simply did not know the health issues that have befallen me. My retirement befuddled them. My good looks and youth threw them off, LOL! So, I personally reached out via email to them. I feel good with that solution. My cancer is not a secret, but I don’t want it to define me.

Overall, it is strange to see peoples reactions. I can only hope that it will encourage them to take stock in their personal and professional lives. They may not be able to retire now due to personal reasons, but maybe this will give them a goal. At the very least, nudge them to put some planning in place, so that they are ready for anything life serves them. I know it wasn’t on our radar.

And believe me, if I could still work at Renee Kranking pre-cancer capacity, you’d better believe I would be there in all of its glory. Pre-cancer Renee does not exist anymore. It’s a fact. The new Renee Kranking is figuring it out. For me, it began with putting my family and health first.

Which brings me to a preview of my next post. Jamie and I are going to focus on my Bucket List. We all have them; I know each of you do. But, do we all try to earnestly check them off? We’ll see how I do.

And about my pesky health, the Eliquis blood thinner meds are working quite well for me! Yay! The Lovenox injections are behind me. Scans are in a few weeks, so I will post results when I have them.

Yesterday was Mason’s last day of 6th grade. He is now a rising 7th grader. I’m so thankful for him. He is growing like a weed!

For Throwback Thursday (even though today is Friday), I thought I would post an oldie but goodie. This is from Sapphire, SAP’s User Conference. I believe it was 2011. I had the pleasure of being on stage with our CEO at the time, Bill McDermott. It was a professional thrill.

Now, let me go find that bucket…