April 30th -- I went to Bob C's retirement dinner tonight; he is retiring after 39 years in education and 15 years as principal of the elementary school where my four children all attended school. It was a really funny night with a lot of good laughs. Bob is a nice guy with lots of quirks people can easily make fun of.
I was thinking a couple of things as I sat there and listened to all the speeches. One was that sometimes I think I really blew it by leaving teaching to stay home with the kids. If I go back to school this year, I will be close to seventy before I can think about retiring. I don't know how good of a teacher I would be when I am 67. Seriously. I can barely remember things now. At age 67? Bah. I will be lucky if I remember where I put my toothbrush. So maybe one of those kids I stayed home with will grow up and get a great job and take care of their mommy. A back-up plan of sorts. Hmmmmm.
The other thing I thought about was how nice it was to hear his kids speak about him. THey are all in their twenties so they had some well-thought out things to say with deep meaning and affection for their dad. I was so impressed. I thought of my own kids and wondered if they would ever have the where-with-all to come up with a speech about Brian or me. I feel as though I would have to write it for them. I don't know. There is time yet for their appreciation for their parents to develop and grow...at least I hope so anyway!
Well, there's no need to worry about that thing, no? If you stayed at home to raise your kids, then that's one seriously good deed to do. Of course, you don't have to be teaching in your senior life as well. Find something that you can be passionate about, and if teaching is what you're passionate about, then try it!
ReplyDeleteYes -- you are right. I do feel that staying home with my kids was the right thing to do. It's just so hard to go back full time...I was fortunate to get hired to teach again and I begin in a week. Time will tell how that goes. Thanks for your comment!
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