Skip to main content

Retired at Last!!!!!!!!

I retired from teaching in June 2008 and it was the best freedom I have felt since my childhood. No more mornings of getting up at 5 a.m. -- No more late days after work where I tried to finish up the day, get ready for the next day, or was just too tired to get out of my chair to go home. No more missing shows or being tired the next day if something came on TV the night before. And, no more short weekends where Sunday night felt like it was closing in on me with the work week ahead, or during the summer break when I started counting down the weeks left as early as the middle of July.
I know the public feels teachers are pampered and don't need those summers off, but they would be ready to "kill" if they were in an enclosed room with 30 teenagers, five days a week, for nine months, with only a half hour lunch and minutes between groups. Some kids were a joy as were their families. Others it was obvious were only at school because their parents could not trust them at home...and believe me, they seldom missed a day!

I love to hear parents at the grocery in August talking about how happy they are to have their kids back in school. This year I overheard some ladies in the Kroger bakery saying that and I chimmed in with, "Oh, you can't be happier than I am, retiring after teaching kids for 30 yrs!" which they greeted with laughter.

Although I had wanted to slip out quietly and even told thea rest of the staff, "Just don't block the door when I leave" they surprised me. On the last week of school they hosted a surprise party for me at a local restaurant and a large gift that I turned in toward a laptop computer...my first ever....it was all organized by a former librarian from our school, Ginny, who has more energy than anyone I know. She was also helping with her son's wedding, so it was a shock that she threw this in at the last minute. My friend Judy, who is my constant email friend (she's so witty! She's the emost self-efacing and honest person I think I know...has a very kind heart and the best memory for names and families in the area!) had to kidnap me at the end of the day as I had cancelled a coffee date with her, feeling I was too busy that last week of school.-----The seond was an ice cream party a teacher friend I called "my son" set up for our last day with students. I met Lee as a church usher for a wedding I attended. We taught next door to each other for five years, I saw him through dating to his eventual marriage and birth of his kids...a very nice young man. -----Then, the last one, was an all staff cookout the last teacher work day, where my old Santa lookalike friend Wil cooked over a hot grill and the rest was carried in...great food and teacher's kids were also a highlight. Afterward, I literally spilled the beans. I pulled a table back from the wall and watched in horror as my crock pot, still full of baked beans slid to the floor breaking into pieces and pouring out on the wall and floor.

But none were so perfect a sendoof than a gift given to me by my good friend Ginny, our school secretary. I had long kidded her about my favorite chorduroy dress she wore, so she cut up her dress and made me a travel pillow for the car. That was the only time I cried...she did too. I will miss Ginny so very much and be in touch with her forever. Talk about the shirt off your back! I think Ginny is the hardest working, sensitive, honest woman...she deserves Mother of the Year for the way she has helped her daughters...Amazing and kind...a true unsung hero.

There are a lot of people who felt I could not leave the job behind, and I admit I still will want to know the goings on at the jr. high, but I am so ready for this time in my life.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That is so beautifuly Marilyn the story of the dress and the pillow for the car - you will treasure that for ever - I am sure now you have felt a little of retirement and as the years go forth into the future you have wonderful memories to look back on - enjoy every day as it is a beautiful part of our lives - feeling free to do whatever we wish - whenever we wish to do it - getting out of bed whenever you wish - may it be early in the morning or having that extra hours rest that is needed - lots of love from your friend in the "Land down under" - Jeanette
Anonymous said…
WOOT!

Popular posts from this blog

Father's Day 2006

My father Wellesley Alexander was the best father a girl could ever have. He was raised by John and Elizabeth, two parents with stately confidence. John was an artist who started a cemetery monument business with his art ability and Elizabeth did well in the stock market, taking the boys back to their roots in Scotland... trips Dad never forgot. Dad had one brother Ian. I never heard either brother say anything unkind about the other. Dad worked in the family business most of his life. His health declined in his early 70's...heart problems, depression, and many other problems that my mother tried to cope with, using up her health. He spent his last years in three different resthomes. It will always haunt me how sad his last years were on this earth. In his bitterness, he lashed out at my brothers and sister, but never at me...I guess I wasn't there as often, living out of state. He was human and made mistakes. He opened an Edsel dealership which was to be the downfall of his fi...

I'm Back Again...Thanks, Holly

After a year off from this blog, I have decided to come back. Life was slow and I was in a fog since losing sister Martha on my birthday in 2008, but now I am starting to want to live again. Thanks to Holly on Decor 8 for inspiring me tonight to reopen this blog. http://www.decor8blog.com/ She has been a lifesaver to me at times when I felt disconnected from the beauty in this world. Will be posting from time to time again.... Hope you will check back in with me. Love, Marilyn

Too Busy To Blog

"Garden Susie" sits at the end of our drive... We arrived at the cottage June 20th. Will only be here until the end of July :( ---- The phone was not working and a call to the company initiated a service call. Seems they moved the wires underground and had no record of our having had a phone since 2002 so did not give us a line! They will be putting one in and gave us a temp. A week later none of the phones on the point worked, but no reason given as to why. Then the computer didn't work because the local provider had equipment problems. My sister Martha and her daughter Errin came for the weekend and we had a great time. They went to Mackinac Island one day and we hit a casino at night...Errin was a virgin gambler and won over $100...she left happy:). A cap on a tooth came loose from eating an olive burger at one of our favorite local joints, Clyde's, by the Mackinac Bridge. -- Went in to a local dentist and he charged $233.00 upfront to xray the tooth root and glue ...