Well, I finally remembered my user name and password so I could post again. Seems I lost the little purple sticky note I wrote the info on until I could transfer it to a safe place for keeping. It seems I forget a lot of stuff lately, which is another reason I decided to quit teaching. The last year or two, I was forever misplacing books and papers and forgetting to do things that kept me organized in the past. I have a low tolerance for chaos, messiness, and disorder so not being on top of things really bugs me. It went deeper than that, though. I used to be able to lecture on history, and all kinds of pertinent facts would come to mind to share with the class. Last year, I would recall that I knew something that was relevant; I just couldn't remember what! I really didn't want to keep teaching if I couldn't measure up to my past performance. I read an article by a college professor who specialized in education. In it, he said that no one should teach past the age of fifty. His reason was that a person that age could not really relate to young people and would not have new and fresh ideas. He may be right. I did find it harder and harder to relate to the kids, even though I really loved them. I just didn't understand why they did a lot of the things they did. It often seemed to me that they were being very disrespectful when they did not think that at all! I also had a big problem with feeling that school was not a big enough priority with the kids, and sometimes even the parents. Too many absences and tardiness became a HUGE frustration for me. Understand, I taught in a Christian school with good kids. I know they could have been much, much worse. I think your patience starts to wear thin as you get older.
Getting older is the pits. First there was the grey hair. At least mine is a nice shade of silver, but it definitely says "old." Then the pounds started creeping on. Next the eyesight went.
I've been pretty lucky about wrinkles, but the whole face is sagging! One day I noticed that men didn't look at me anymore when I walked through the mall. I never was beautiful, or even very pretty - I guess "cute" was about the best I could do. It sure is hard to realize that even what looks I had are going fast. I wonder if it's that hard for every woman? I've prayed that God would help me to stop caring so much about looks.
Then there are the aches and pains. A new pillowtop mattress helped tremendously with the early morning stiffness. Even better, we added one of those memory foam mattrress toppers. I love to get in bed! It feels like a dream. I signed up for jazzercise classes over a week ago, and I'm hoping that will keep my muscles toned and flexible.
As for the additional pounds, I also signed up for Weight Watchers. The first week I lost 2.4 pounds. Yeah!!!
I guess the only good thing about getting old is you get to retire. That gives me time for taking care of this old body of mine!
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Finding My Way
So now I'm a retired school teacher. Now what? All I really know is I want something different. I loved teaching and did it for over twenty-one years, with three years before that spent working in a daycare center. I finally got bored doing what I was doing, and I guess I got tired of always riding students' backs, trying to get them to do what they ought to do for their own good. If that sounds like burnout, then I guess I'm burned out. Really, though, I have so many other interests I've always wanted to pursue, and I'm not getting any younger (51). So the big question now is, what do I do first?
In this blog, I hope to answer the questions people ask me all the time since I retired - What do you do with yourself now? ( A lot.) Are you enjoying retirement? (Yes.) Do you miss teaching? (Not really.) I also hope it helps me sort out my thoughts as I try to figure out what to do in this new phase of my life.
My retirement started out this summer with two great trips. We spent a week with friends David and Linda Lavender in their really nice motor home, traveling to Branson, MI. On our way we stopped in Memphis where we ate great BBQ, walked along Beal Street listening to the music, and visited the home of Elvis. In Branson, we thoroughly enjoyed several shows there. My favorites were the Dutton family, Remembering the 50's, and Yakov, who was hilarious. Our next trip was a week long visit to our friend Celia in Oregon. We flew to Portland and stayed at their home in Lake Oswego for several days. While there, we rode up the coast to Washington, saw where Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific, went to the top of Mount Hood, and walked to Multnomah Falls. Then we drove to central Oregon and stayed in a resort called Black Butte Ranch. We had great fun, but my friends tried to kill this slightly overweight and very out-of-shape woman with a six-mile hike up and down hills at Silver Falls, a nine-mile bike ride, and a steep hike up to the lookout over Crater Lake. Crater Lake was my favorite part of the whole trip. I never saw such blue water! Traveling is something I hope to do more of now that I'm retired.
Just before we left for the Oregon trip, our 27-year-old son got engaged to a lovely girl. We are all busy planning a wedding now. Our traveling was followed by two or three months trying to catch up with cleaning and work around the house and yard. I'm an organization nut, so I've tried to get really organized, but still have a ways to go. Then it was time to get ready for Christmas, which is big with my family. We entertained a number of times over the holidays.
In addition to the things already mentioned, I've tried to visit my parents in the mountains of North Carolina as much as I could. They, too, aren't getting any younger. Not only do I have old parents to worry about, but we have a seventeen-year-old poodle that needs lots of looking after. He is on medication for congestive heart failure, is deaf, sees poorly, constantly runs at the eyes, has alzheimers, and is incontinent. Yes, our dog wears diapers, which takes care of the peeing, but he poops in the house. One might wonder why we don't have him put to sleep. There are two reasons. One, he isn't suffering. Two, we are afraid our son would resent us if we did. We do love the dog, but he really isn't the same dog anymore. He spends most of his time sleeping, and when he is awake, all he cares about is getting something to eat. Sometimes he just stands in one spot in some kind of a daze until he slowly flops over. It really is pitiful.
Well, time to get to work on some of those projects; be back later-
Paula
In this blog, I hope to answer the questions people ask me all the time since I retired - What do you do with yourself now? ( A lot.) Are you enjoying retirement? (Yes.) Do you miss teaching? (Not really.) I also hope it helps me sort out my thoughts as I try to figure out what to do in this new phase of my life.
My retirement started out this summer with two great trips. We spent a week with friends David and Linda Lavender in their really nice motor home, traveling to Branson, MI. On our way we stopped in Memphis where we ate great BBQ, walked along Beal Street listening to the music, and visited the home of Elvis. In Branson, we thoroughly enjoyed several shows there. My favorites were the Dutton family, Remembering the 50's, and Yakov, who was hilarious. Our next trip was a week long visit to our friend Celia in Oregon. We flew to Portland and stayed at their home in Lake Oswego for several days. While there, we rode up the coast to Washington, saw where Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific, went to the top of Mount Hood, and walked to Multnomah Falls. Then we drove to central Oregon and stayed in a resort called Black Butte Ranch. We had great fun, but my friends tried to kill this slightly overweight and very out-of-shape woman with a six-mile hike up and down hills at Silver Falls, a nine-mile bike ride, and a steep hike up to the lookout over Crater Lake. Crater Lake was my favorite part of the whole trip. I never saw such blue water! Traveling is something I hope to do more of now that I'm retired.
Just before we left for the Oregon trip, our 27-year-old son got engaged to a lovely girl. We are all busy planning a wedding now. Our traveling was followed by two or three months trying to catch up with cleaning and work around the house and yard. I'm an organization nut, so I've tried to get really organized, but still have a ways to go. Then it was time to get ready for Christmas, which is big with my family. We entertained a number of times over the holidays.
In addition to the things already mentioned, I've tried to visit my parents in the mountains of North Carolina as much as I could. They, too, aren't getting any younger. Not only do I have old parents to worry about, but we have a seventeen-year-old poodle that needs lots of looking after. He is on medication for congestive heart failure, is deaf, sees poorly, constantly runs at the eyes, has alzheimers, and is incontinent. Yes, our dog wears diapers, which takes care of the peeing, but he poops in the house. One might wonder why we don't have him put to sleep. There are two reasons. One, he isn't suffering. Two, we are afraid our son would resent us if we did. We do love the dog, but he really isn't the same dog anymore. He spends most of his time sleeping, and when he is awake, all he cares about is getting something to eat. Sometimes he just stands in one spot in some kind of a daze until he slowly flops over. It really is pitiful.
Well, time to get to work on some of those projects; be back later-
Paula
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