I have been looking at my motivation for choosing this year to be retiring. As I had mentioned earlier, I was the perfect age, had turned in my years to be fully vested and was facing this COVID craziness. It just seemed right – – But I also think it could have been an issue of JOY. For years and years teaching theatre was my daily dose of joy, but in the3 recent years, the joy factor had dimmed a bit. It is not that I was burned out or that the kids have changed. It was just a feeling that perhaps it was time for joy to be found in other parts of my life. It did seem like I was running TOWARDS something than running AWAY from something. That felt healthy. I leaved still feeling good about high school theatre – and am ready to face my next act AWAY from high school theatre.