Summer is almost a memory - within a few short weeks, it'll be back to school ...but actually, I haven't left. With workshops, conferences, meetings, inventories, teaching teachers, etc., the school year really is year-round for most teachers. The days of a long stretch of weeks to forget the classroom and just relax are long over. I think teachers are more stressed, more tired now than ever before. spetember used to mean back to school. Now it's early August. And that's not counting taking courses all summer by internet.
With retirement close, I'm doing a lot of thinking about what it will be like when school is over for good - I can't believe I can be paid to stay home and do as I please.. But because I want to have an inkling, I'm going to my beach house - the place we bought with retirement in mind - for a week and "play retirement." That means nothing school or work-related, while I look for other things to do - and not just baking brownies and reading books. Bill has been retired for 8 months now, and he has no shortage of stuff to keep himself busy. I may not have it so easy. I don't enjoy gardening, other than planting a few window boxes. I don't like to "put up" food - canning, pickling, making jelly, etc. I'm not a shopper, scrapbooker, or home remodeler, though I like to dabble in those things. At one time I thought I'd like to do something completely different - go birdwatching. Take up hiking. Work in a soup kitchen.
What I'll probably do is wallow in the freedom for a while, walk around in the morning in my robe and slippers, take a walk with the dogs without hurrying them, make a second pot of coffee, luxuriate in the idea that I can read the whole paper in the morning. Then get dressed, register for a class, and get back in a classroom...on the other side of the desk. I want to learn forever.
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