Parker Potter is a former archaeologist and historian, and a retired lawyer. He is currently a semi-professional dogwalker who lives and works in Contoocook.

I retired about five years ago, at the tender age of sixty-two. Because I had read plenty of articles about people coming apart physically after embarking on a sudden sedentary retirement, and because I still had some gas left in my tank, I realized that it would be a good idea to figure out how to occupy my newly retired self. My new occupation involves walking, watching, and writing, my three Ws.

About a month after I retired, I started taking a five-mile walk around Contoocook, every morning, rain, shine, or whatever. To date, I have gone through five pairs of shoes, have logged more than 9,000 miles on the one-mile loop I walk, and still look forward to heading out the door every morning.

The daily exercise seems to benefit my old-man body, but my walking has given me much more than that. Over my years of walking, I have made dozens of new friends.

Some of these friends share a wave with me or give me a toot on their car horns as they drive by. Others are fellow walkers. Some walk my loop counterclockwise, while I go clockwise, and with those friends, I trade friendly greetings or a word or two. A few of my pedestrian friends also go clockwise, and with those friends, I have deep conversations in which we talk about anything and everything. We’ve solved all the world’s problems three or four times over.

I have also made friends with people who live along the loop I walk. That started when one family, who saw me walking day after day, asked me whether I was willing to walk their dog. I was, and soon, two more families asked me to walk their dogs.

Those dogs are now good friends, and their families have been generous in providing me with eggs from their chickens, fresh produce from their gardens, and baked goods from their kitchens. One canine friend has two human sisters who play sports, and I have attended dozens of their games.

Two of the dogs I walk have human siblings who attend school near my walking route, and after a year of dogwalking, one family asked me to help their girls and some of their friends cross Main Street in Fountain Square on their way to school. It is a wonderful way to start my day.

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While my mornings are devoted to walking, afternoons and evenings often find me on the sidelines of a youth sporting event. Our daughter graduated from high school in 2020, which ended her high-school athletic career, but I quickly realized that the end of her athletic career didn’t have to end my time on the sidelines.

As a result, I’ve spent many happy hours cheering for young Hawks and getting to know their parents. I even got to keep the scorebook for a basketball divisional championship game and ride the bus home with a state championship track team.

The other thing I do in retirement is write. For most of my working life, I had jobs that required extensive writing. While I always enjoyed writing for my bosses, I now get to write for myself. It is a rare day when I don’t post something to Facebook. Every three weeks I write a new My Turn, and I’ve even written a couple of children’s stories that have been gloriously illustrated by student artists at the local elementary school. I’ve never had so much fun with a pen in my hand.

So these are my three Ws, walking, watching, and writing. Here’s the cool part. My three Ws are all interconnected.

After our daughter graduated from high school, I planned on sticking with the high-school basketball team until a particular player, then a seventh-grader, graduated. But my walking has introduced me to a whole new crop of younger athletes to watch, which will keep me on the sidelines much longer than I had once anticipated. And my walking is closely tied to my writing. I cannot tell you how many My Turn columns I have composed in my head while walking around Contoocook. Nor can I tell you how many times someone has approached me on a walk to comment on one of my columns or Facebook posts.

The bottom line is that through walking, watching, and writing, I have found really rewarding ways to spend my retirement years. Here’s the important part. I can do all the things I love to do within a half a mile of my doorstep. I don’t have to join Jerry Seinfeld’s parents in Del Boca Vista or jet off to Cabo San Cabo to have a great retirement. Everything I need is right here. There is no place like home.