Summer’s end… retirement is finally becoming real

After teaching school for twenty years and having the summer months “off”, one might not notice a thing like retirement until the summers’ ending was finally in place.  People often asked me how retirement was, and I wasn’t sure I even knew.

Yesterday, school officially started.  Everyone posted on social media cute pictures of their children all slicked up in colorful, fresh outfits, holding signs stating their grade and the school year as they took off for the new, exciting adventures of the first day of school. I, on the other hand, had the pleasure of staying in bed a little longer, leaving my pajamas on until I felt inclined to get dressed, and puttering in the yard as I waved to the kids being picked up by the bright yellow school bus. 

It was quite wonderful!

Except for the fact that I kept wondering what everyone was doing at school.  When it was time for the bells to ring I imagined everyone meeting their new students. How were they going to handle the Solar Eclipse?  What changes were made to my old classroom with someone else in it?  Are the new teachers nice?  What interesting news did I miss as the teachers gathered in the hallways to chat about their summer vacations?  What students moved away during the summer?  Is it lunch time yet?  Did anyone miss me?

The pro-retirement side inched ahead in the debate, clearly winning, but it was not without some feelings of nostalgia and loss.

I was able to participate a tiny bit in the school preparations as I delivered school bags donated by friends of a friend.  Peggy, a long time friend and past neighbor belongs to a group of ladies in Mt. Pleasant, Utah who take on humanitarian projects each year.  They donated to my class last year and wanted to do so again this year.  They stitched up cute bags and filled them with multiple notebooks, pencils, scissors, erasers, colored pencils, and so on.  This year they gave about 200 school bags!  Peggy and I met several times to transfer the bags, including the last time when Ken and I drove to Mt. Pleasant to pick up the last batch.

One of our transfers included dinner at Olive Garden with other good friends.  Winnie and Stan, Larry and Peggy, Marty and Sandi, Tom and Shirley, and Sheila. 

Today is day two of my “it-finally-feels-like-retirement” time.  I am trying to do some odd jobs to make it productive, but I’m sure the temptation to do nothing will still be hard to overcome. 

Can you believe that summer is almost gone?

JoAnn

P.S. Yesterday’s solar eclipse was pretty amazing, wasn’t it?  Some of my family went to Idaho (the zone of totality) and I think they got the million dollar experience!  Next time….