Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Day 1 SOL 2017 Retired

The first day of March holds two important firsts for me. It is the first day of writing a daily slice of life sponsored by two Writing Teachers blog. I've participated in this annual event several years. Each year my goal is to participate at 100%. Life events seem to interfere with my plans. Sometimes poor internet caused me to fall short of my performance goal. Other times work obligations hampered my success. This year I thought maybe I shouldn't even try because I haven't achieved my expectations. But I value this writing process, I love feeling connected with teachers, and I relish a challenge. So here I am late in the day creating my first post for the 2017 writing challenge. You can read more about the process here: https://twowritingteachers.org/2017/03/01/day-1-sol17/

The other first for me this March: it is the first day of my second retirement. I taught in a public school for 29 years and retired from that in 2006. Just as soon as that job ended, actually even before I was done with school, I went straight to work as an education consultant for a state agency. Yesterday was my last day working there. I planned to work 10 years, but ended up loving most duties of the job and continued working until yesterday. I wanted to leave on a high, while things were still going smooth, while I could still meet my expectations. But I was getting tired, I was starting to avoid some of the more stressful duties. That was my clue that it was time to make a change so in January, I began the process to retire. I had 2 months to clean out my office, tie up loose ends and prepare for the transition. I cried while in my office on the next to the last day. Yesterday I attended a training and afterward my coworkers gave me a sweet send-off. I was done. 

Today I attempted the transition! I awoke early and began my regular routine: took the dog outside for a walk, gave her a pill, fixed her food, made coffee, exercised, showered, started a load of laundry, washed a few dishes, set out my husband's pills, took the dog outside again, I looked for birds and picked up limbs from the storm while she explored. We went inside and I checked the time, it was almost 9 o'clock! My thought: what am I going to do the rest of the day? 

I applied make-up and headed out to pick up a prescription, pay a bill and check the mail. I was excited to be around other people and eager to talk with old acquaintances. One friend offered me a job helping her with her new venture, wedding venues. It definitely sounded interested. That took 30 minutes so it was still not nearing lunch time. My thought: how am I going to do this?

My husband said I had to learn to pace myself, that I could not do everything in one day. Hmm. I only know how to work full steam, I don't know how to change that pace. I'll try to take one day at a time. 

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your retirement, Pat! All of that free time is daunting at first, but eventually your calendar will be so full you'll wonder how you ever did anything while working. Enjoy your days! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I look forward to spending some art time with you.

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