So much water under the bridge! More than a year after my last post, here I sit in Myrtle Beach slowly adapting to all of the changes that come with retirement. I believe this is something I must "learn"....how to be retired. I want to jump into all sorts of things that I've kept in the closet (No, not THAT closet) for so many eons.
The last year of work as an instructional coach was the most challenging of all. I'm still processing all that happened, both in the topsy-turvy world of public education and in the individual world of Bobbi. My thoughts on that will remain in percolation for now; I can't put things into perspective yet.
All I know at this moment is that I have the most delicious feeling of freedom - I grin as though I have a secret that is demanding to be shared. People look at me funny. I am probably quite annoying to everyone who gets in my immediate vicinity. I am not sorry.
I remember the first months of our marriage, way back in 1968. Bill was sent to a training in Arizona, while I was left nervously alone in our little ramshackle summer cabin in Salty Shores, NC ($75 per month). It was evening, and the area was eerily quiet, as most temporary summer residents had gone home. I wandered about the place, looked at the waterway, put on shorts, wondered what to do with myself. Then it hit me like a water balloon. Somewhat reminiscent of Mrs. Mallard in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" (but not for the same reasons; yeah, I know - she dies!)) who realizes for the first time in her life she is "free.....free....." I was suffused with joy. What to do with this new-found freedom? I made myself a baked potato - because I could! Then I made mysef a second one - because I could! I answered to no one; I did as I pleased and there was no one to whom I had to answer, explain, justify. Funny, but that moment has stuck with me for all these years. And now the feeling is back. Wonderful, delirious, unexpected, undeserved freedom. I wish this for everyone. There is nothing like it.
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