Well, today marks my return to the keyboard. I've been away for quite a while - technically, I've been away for far longer than one might recognize because there for a while all I did was post happy birthday wishes to members of the family. That served as a way for me to be sure I saved some pictures and marked a special day - mostly for myself! Then, even that sort of faded into the shadows.
You see, my job as a curriculum designer and educator really took on a life of its own. I was so devoted to getting the work done that I kept at it far longer than was expected of me. Unlike the advice I gave to teachers with whom I worked, I didn't walk away and leave tasks for later because teaching is not really a matter of life or death. Nope. I would take on a project and work with it until I got done. I did look for 'stopping places' some days but generally, I just stayed at the computer until the job was what I considered as finished. I let the perfectionist in me take over and I just had to see it through.
I would get frustrated that more and more is expected of educators but, rarely, is anything taken away. So, we hand them a full basket and send them out to educate. Then, we hand them more things to put into that basket until it is piled so high and so full that they cannot see beyond it. Yet, we never seem to tell them that something else could be left off or ignored. I truly understood why so many teachers left the profession after just a short stint. It is overwhelming!
Finally, this past year, I knew that age 65 was on my horizon. I knew that I could stop then if I really wanted to do so. No matter how much I loved education and teaching and sharing my love for learning, I had grown tired. So, I went into the new year in July with the idea that the 2024-2025 school year would likely be my last as a professional educator. I was smiling and looking forward to June.
After a couple of weeks, I was asking myself if I thought I could make it till the end of the semester in December. It was even more overwhelming than ever before. There was more to do and, again, nothing was laid aside. I quickly decided that I would strive to see through to the semester end and kept reminding myself that it would come sooner than I could imagine. With each passing day, I grew more and more tired and bedraggled and felt as if I was struggling to take on the next project. So, without saying a word to a single soul, one day in early September, I filled out the form stating my intention to retire. I took a week to think about it and then one afternoon I submitted it. After a few days, I got a message from our school district's Human Resources office telling me that they had notification from the State Department that I planned to retire and asking me to call as soon as I got a chance. So, I did that afternoon.
Within a matter of hours, the ball was rolling and my retirement date was official. I had always dreamt of simply closing my computer and walking out of the school building quietly after letting my supervisor know that was my last day. However, that plan did not work out. As it turns out, there is too much red tape and too many hoops to jump through for retirement to be that simple and if it could be done wrong, I did it wrong.
First, I was required to get my supervisor's signature on yet another form to indicate my intention to retire. So, when I turned in that form, I explained to the HR representative that my last official work day would be on a Friday but the following week would be the Thanksgiving break, so, I wanted the Friday after Thanksgiving to be my last day. The representative put down the Friday after Thanksgiving. So, I didn't get the extra week that I had planned.
Next, when I heard from the Social Security office, they informed me that I had earned more than was allowed for me to immediately begin drawing my SS check. Of course, I knew that there was a maximum allowed for earning in a year and still drawing SS. However, I didn't realize it would apply to somebody who was just beginning retirement. So, I wouldn't even get my first Social Security check until February. So, I might as well have waited until the end of the semester in terms of drawing the money I'd earned, after all!
Then, in early October, I reported to my supervisor that my last day would be just before Thanksgiving. I had planned to just keep working and walk out on the last day as I'd earlier hoped. However, I got a call from human resources to firm things up. I asked about rolling the sick days I had left over to add to time served. I was told that for every 20 days I would be granted a month added to my time served. The young woman checked and reported that I had nineteen and a half days - not enough to roll over. So, I decided to begin mapping out how to use those nineteen and a half days and started scheduling the time off.
In the meantime, I also learned that my atrial flutter - an afib where my heart was beating twice as fast as it should have been. So, some of those days involved a scheduled procedure where my heart was shocked back into rhythm. When the team of folks I worked with noticed me scheduling frequent time off, they became alarmed about my health. So, I realized I would not be able to quietly walk away from the job and announced my retirement.
So, if I could err in mapping out and working up to my retirement, I certainly did.
The good news is...
No!
The great news is that I retired the week before Thanksgiving last year and on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I experienced a procedure called a cardiac ablation. As far as we can tell, it was quite successful and things are ticking along well.
Sometimes, even best laid plans do go as, well, planned. Retirement is a wonderful place to be and I am wallowing in that wonderfulness. I encourage any and everybody to embrace the opportunity as soon as possible!
After avoiding the computer and a keyboard for quite some time, I'm hoping to return to posting on a semi-regular basis. I hope to see you here!
