Soon after my separation with work and the signing of papers that felt more like I was buying a house – – all of the feelings came pouring in. I don’t remember sleeping the first few nights. I had lost (or rather chosen to leave) 37 of the most magical years I could have imagined. I had always told others that I never worked in day in life – teaching was my passion – and likely would have done it for free if I didn’t need it to pay the electric bill. There certainly were a few bumpy moments in my teaching career (some I may be bold enough to talk about in future blogs). Moments that made me angry and very unappreciated. Moments that all my hard work and best intentions were being mis-interpreted right and left.
Monthly Archives: July 2020
More Like a Divorce
Now, let me begin by letting you know that I have been married to the same man for over 30 happy years – and have ZERO intention of changing that any time soon!
But this launch into retirement has certainly felt like what I could imagine a divorce might feel like. This COVID hell of prolonged captivity and an angry, angry world was not the best time to “serve papers”. I was mad and they were mad. The day finally arrived when I needed to move out of my house (my office) and COVID was rather insisting that it happen all at once with no one to help me. Read more
Not As I Had Expected
I really had this picture of retirement being different – much different. I had imagined a year spent in preparation. I imagined some tearful last goodbyes and last trips through my litany of stories and lessons. I had imagined a student concocted good-bye in one of my more advanced classes. I imagined that “retirement luncheon” many of which I had attended for other teachers moving on. I had imagined a few weeks of slowly dragging home my possessions from my office to tuck in some unused corner of my closet. But with COVID such was not to be. Not even a handshake was possible – – let alone taking out of few of my peers for a lunch with adult beverages – – one they would likely pick up the check for . . . A ZOOM goodbye was the best I could muster.
Retired
Yes – right smack in the middle of the summer – scratching my head about a COVID year to come. I made the decision to retire. Sometimes the higher power in your life guides you oh so gently to the next stage in your life, and sometimes this higher power comes down like a hammer paving a new road that was beyond clear. Such was the case this summer. This crucible of a summer started early with the COVID craziness. Having to move theatre classes on-line was just a mess. Everything about live theatre was so antithetical to what I believe in theatre. Attached to this was a pleasant reminder that age 62 was creeping up in just days and that involved an invitation to something called Social Security.
I Am Back!
Good Lord has it been three long years since I took a break on this blog? Well shame on me! I know that from reading my last few posts, I was hitting a bit of roadblock in getting things down in my laptopp. I felt it was becoming bit of an unfortunate guessing game with my current students as to who I was using as an example. Some felt picked upon and some felt neglected – – I mean it is high school. And ever so subtly I was beginning to be much more critical of the system – not so much of the administration, but weary of the County, State, and Country’s views and treatments of teachers. Did the web need another blog for disgruntled teachers? Perhaps not. I wanted to push the envelope a bit, and, it was becoming a place where mailmen were becoming much more concerned about the mail being delivered. Big big change was on the way. Read the future entries.