School Start Thoughts

School started today and I didn't.

I am not quite certain how I feel about this.  I have been starting school each year for forty-three of my forty-eight years of life.  I know retiring at this time was the right decision for me and I am happy about it.


I have been in a setting where good schools act as a community.  Overall this is a good thing, but being a teacher takes so much of your life that at the end you aren't simply leaving a career, you are changing your lifestyle.  Drastically. This is probably true for many retirees.

Oh God, am I a "retiree"?  It sounds so much like the end.  I am going with "Leisure Enhanced Lifestyle Embracer."

I am blessed to have great friends who won't forget me nor will I forget them.  I do realize things will change.  I still will worry about my educator friends. Will the year be good for them?  Who is going to break up chick fights and tell all the girls to pull up the tops of their shirts and pull down the bottoms hems of their shorts?  Will teachers still feel comfortable using my old classroom as the shortcut to the library?  Most importantly, who is going to drive to lunch on workdays, now that my van isn't there?

Next week the students will come to school and I think I will feel unsettled about this too.  One gift I always gave myself was the joy the students brought to my life. I will still see my students, but I won't get to meet a whole new group each year.  That will be different.

I know that being a teacher of some sort isn't going completely disappear from my life.  It can't.  Teaching is a part of me.  And I think it will always be one of the best parts.

For now I am off to write.