Year Two, Day One

That’s today. The first day of the second year. Of my retirement. Some thoughts…

Housekeeping. My retirement date was this January 3rd. And I stopped working for the DoE around the second week of July last summer. That was programming, scheduling for the school in my absence. But the day after that day last June, that’s when I stopped having regular teacher responsibilities. So yeah, today was the beginning of my second lap without time cards.

For years I have warned retirees “The day after Labor Day, make a plan not to be in New York City. It’s too weird to be around when school starts.” And last September, sure enough, I was in the Adirondacks for Labor Day, and on a pond in Maine the day after… And that was a good thing to do. But the day wasn’t really that weird. It was just like summer vacation, extended a bit.

On the other hand, no one warned me about June 26 or 27. The close of the school year – that had always been my time. Finals and Regents. The UFT luncheon at my school. Transcript work. Creating new schedules. Doing intake on the lists of new students. Graduation. Yearbooks. Goodbyes. I missed the last day of my first retirement year much more than I missed the first. Nostalgic. Wistful. Melancholy. It hit hardest yesterday, and lingered today.

Honestly, this year has felt strange. At first it was like a long vacation. But I need a routine, or routines. I have been making progress. I knew this was coming.

I’ve started taking math classes. I like being a student. I’ll take more in the fall. I tried to get a math reading group started. Rough start, but I’ll try to restart it. And probably start a second group. I also have a job – a few weeks this summer – problem solving. And I’m hoping to get a once a week during the year. See that – teach one day a week, take classes twice a week – there’s my workweek – all three partial days…

I’m reading again. Not enough, but so much more than while I was working. Fits and starts, getting through books here and there. I’m actually reading my magazines, most of them, now. The New Yorker. The Economist. I still barely dip into the Scientific American. But progress is progress.

Walking all the time. I have the local streets. And the NY Botanical Garden. And Van Cortlandt Park – huge, wonderful – watching the seasons shift. I was there on my birthday, sub-zero windchill, and many, many more days. And hikes – we have lovely woods and hills close to New York City – so many beautiful places to explore. And I am healthier. And less stressed. (I hate data, but I have data). It’s real, the less stress, the health.

And I’ve kept up, to some degree, blogging. And I’ve been working with Retiree Advocate.

And Now

These last few days – I’m not working yet – and my classes ended over a month ago – so there was nothing to occupy me – and it gave me a lot of time to dwell on, well, my melancholy. Like I said, May and June, especially June, that was my season. I missed it.

Also, for context, I made a lot of space, set a lot of distance, pretty much cut off, my school. And I needed that distance – but maybe not so much, maybe not in June. So that nostalgia was bad, and there was no ready relief.

And then I heard from a former colleague. And another. And a few more. And a heard from an alum. And another. And a just graduated student. And I’m sure there were more, the last few days kind of blur together. But whoever, however many, it helped.

Also, the days themselves, mostly nice. Today I had a nice meet up with some like-minded folks, one a teacher from not so far away. Yesterday some easy appointments, a walk across a park, ran into a few colleagues. Sunday I saw some of the parade periphery, and a bunch of family at a cousin’s graduation from a highly specialized program. Saturday me and a friend picked a stupidly busy day to visit the Metropolitan Museum, but someone decided they liked how we looked, and we got treated like honored guests. Friday I met up with some teachers, including from far away. And Thursday… you get the picture… I’ve been busy with nice things. (And Thursday was the tail end of a Juneteenth trip, I’ll write about it and post some pictures. Another day).

In any case, Year One of Retirement is in the books.

And Next?

Well, summer job. Maybe a regular 3 day schedule from the fall. And keep making progress on walking and reading and studying and learning and teaching and visiting family, and struggling for what’s right. And maybe a trip.