etirement takes a lot of planning, and that doesn't even count the financial side, according to attorney Thomas Lisella of the Tamaqua-based law firm Bowe, Lisella and Bowe.

After 42 years as a lawyer, Attorney Lisella took the next big step at the end of 2016, officially retiring as of Dec. 31.The day after his last day of work was an eye opener. "I realized retirement involves a great deal of planning, much more so than working. You go to work, do what needs to be done and then go home. You don't have a lot of spare time. When you're retired, if you have no plan, you have all of this spare time just staring you in the face."In order to ensure he didn't become a couch potato just staring at the television all day, he quickly came up with his own plan. "Every night, before I go to sleep, I plan out the next day. I'm going to keep busy professionally by auditing an economics class at Penn State's Hazleton Campus and being an active member of the Mauch Chunk Trust board."As for the rest of his plans, they include a lot of bass and trout fishing, reading, traveling and spending more time with his family. Two of his three children, and all of his grandchildren, live out of state. He's looking forward to extended visits with them.In addition to his wife, the former Diane Yagella, his family includes two daughters, Stephanie D'Souza in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Krysten Arekapudi in Shelton, Connecticut; a son, Taylor Lisella in Reading; and grandchildren, Gavin, Brody and Victoria D'Souza and Madison and Brady Arekapudi.Lisella and his partner, Jeff Bowe, started their law careers in 1974 and 1976, respectively, working for the late Attorney James R. Bowe. Their office was located above the former Meredith's Stationery Store on West Broad Street, several buildings west of the firm's current location. They started out practicing all types of law, but then gravitated toward estate planning, real estate, corporate and municipal specialties."The practice of law has changed significantly since those days, constantly evolving," Bowe says.Lisella agrees, "The changes have been phenomenal. We started out with a typewriter, a copy machine and law books. Now, we have computers, the Internet, fax machines, all of these electronic tools which save time."Of course, all of the changes haven't been so beneficial. One thing Lisella won't miss is the bureaucracy and red tape."Some of the changes over the last 42 years seemed to have been made just to make a change. They add no benefit to the lawyer or the client, just adds more red tape."What he's going to miss the most is the people. "Our clients are like family. Many of them are life long, with their children and grandchildren also coming to us for advice and help." He will also miss working with his partner. "The cases we worked on together are some of my fondest memories."Although one of its partners has left the building, the law firm, located at 109 W. Broad St., Tamaqua, will continue to conduct business as usual as a full service law firm.