Monthly Archives: July 2020

“It is all for the best.”  “All things are happening on God’s schedule.”  “Have faith – there is a master plan.”  “There are no mistakes or mis-steps”  “Trust”.  “Trust”.  “Faith”.  “Faith”.  “Tend to the day and the future will take care of itself”.  These are really nice words.  I imagine they get spoken a lot at every AA meeting – and even though I don’t drink, I feel the urge to write them down on recipe cards and past them all over the mirror.  After all, I only need a bit of mirror to shave in the morning.

What do I call myself?  Since I was 21 I was always quick to answer “teacher” or “high school director”.  Now I needed a new title.  I couldn’t imagine simply introducing myself as Michael Higgins.  I needed a title.  My vanity simply demanded one!  I first went to “Michael, the Unemployed” cause I was without a job and had no boss to attend to.  I didn’t make new money every day – much of my living was going to be based on my smart use of my past.  So there I was, “unemployed.” Read more →

So I went home.  I had checked out a few books on managing your retirement money and retirement sanity – but I actually only read the book jackets.  I was tired of DOING – afraid of NOT-DOING – but grabbing on to as much PATIENCE as I could muster.  I was going to wait through this intermission of my life in anticipation of Act 2.  And, as a theatre teacher I knew that Act 2 was always the best part of the story.  But till then I was at intermission – without much happening but overpriced snacks; watered-down, over-priced drinks; and frequent trips to the bathroom.  So are my days.

Okay – now that alarm clock is a thing of he past.  I can turn it around to not face me, I can simply unplug it.  I can toss into the drawer of seldom worn socks or I can toss it in the mounting pile marked for a visit to Goodwill. Time is mine – all the time is mine – way too much time is mine.  I can rest until I get bedsores or I can join a gym.  I can FULLY utilize my Netflix/Hulu subscription or read a novel I only pretended to read.  I could learn to sew a COVID mask (god forbid) or, like a bad boy, sneak into a grocery store without one until I get busted.    What was my answer?  The public library.  Ever since I was a your tyke, I love the library – the great smells and all of the reading contests.  But in these COVID days that mask had to be work every moment and nose-made fog made it impossible to read.  I found very little pleasure possible with an itchy nose.

Likely this whole “divorce metaphor” is going to pop up now and again throughout future blogs as I process it – and I ask for your patience as I treat you, my reader, as a guest to my table at Starbucks, where I rather command ALL of the talking – – but the coffee is on me.  I would certainly LOVE to hear of your adventures in retiring from your job – especially you theatre teachers who so often go unheard.