Retirement (Part 2)

Early in the blog, and also one of the motivations for writing it, I spoke about my retirement from teaching in the public schools. Last spring I said I probably wouldn't really understand the full impact until this fall when school was starting again - without me. I've noticed it for a few weeks. In the past, usually when July turned over into August, I would mentally or literally start to make a list of things I wanted to get done before I went back to work at the end of the month - hike Dog Mountain, pressure wash the deck, have lunch with so and so. That didn't happen this year. As the days of August ticked by, I didn't feel the usual anxiety, the resistance to letting go of summer and focusing on the school year with its inevitable changes and challenges. That's a pleasure of retirement. I have lots of time. I'm on Harry Potter #5 and the Sopranos season 2.

I have many friends in education, some of whom like Debra, Nancy, Ann and Pru have already started back at work since they are principals (Debra and Nancy), librarians (Ann) or secretaries (Pru). My teacher friends contractually don't have to be back until September 1, but most have been into their classrooms by now or have been busy writing lesson plans or doing prep work at home. For those of you who think teachers have three months off during the summer, think again. In Portland, our last contract day was June 12. I know several teachers who taught summer school to earn extra money. It's a rare teacher who doesn't spend some time during the summer taking professional development courses, planning projects, learning new a curriculum, reading kids literature, moving to a new classroom or at the very least, just planning how they might do some things differently - all requiring time they are not paid for. But I'm off topic...

There is something bittersweet about retiring from teaching. Yay! I don't have get up and be at work every day by 7:30. Yay! I don't have that nasty commute. Yay! I don't have to go to staff meetings or deal with the politics. I could go on with that list. But here is what I WILL miss - I'll miss having all those kids in my life every day, I'll miss watching them make progress both academically and socially, I'll miss making a difference in their lives, I'll miss the funny things they say and I'll miss talking about the kids with my colleagues. Fortunately there will always be kids and I can sub or volunteer at my leisure, but it's a little different when they aren't my responsibility. Maybe that's the part I won't miss.