In the United States, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday created to celebrate and honor the life and work of Rev. Dr. King, a man who literally gave his life in the fight to end racial inequality in this country.  Less significantly, for me this day has also always marked the real end to the Christmas holidays, as the spring semester begins on the Tuesday after MLK Day.  

Again, in no particular order, #45 on my 60 By Sixty list is “create a retirement plan.”  I started this list over the summer.  When I added the retirement item to the list, I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.  All I knew was that I had been teaching music theory at the college level since I was twenty-one when I started as graduate teaching fellow.  That means I’ve been teaching for thirty-eight years.  It also means that I have taught a lot of students about major, harmonic minor and octatonic scales, about Mystic and Neapolitan Sixth chords, and about why parallel fifths and octaves are unacceptable in four-part voice leading.  I have also facilitated many discussions about what Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg may have been thinking when they composed their works.  In these conversations, my job was to convince my students that the intention of these composers was not to confound fledgling music majors in the centuries to come.  

I really do love teaching…in the classroom where I can interact with my students on a daily basis, where I can see whether their eyes reflect understanding or confusion, where I can get to know each student as the unique human being that he or she is.  The move to virtual learning last spring, because of COVID, took away all the things that I love most about teaching.

Classes on our campus remained online in the fall of 2020.  That, combined with some restructuring that involved the consolidation of programs across the seven campuses in our district made for a miserable fall semester.  In mid-fall, the decision was made that we would again be teaching virtually in the spring of 2021.  With this announcement, I knew it was time to put that retirement plan into action, perhaps before I had planned, but not before I was ready.  So, rather than tomorrow being the first day of another semester of teaching, it is technically my first day of retirement.  And I have to say, at this moment, that feels good! 

I think that having not been in the classroom since last March and not enjoying teaching online has made this transition to retirement much easier.

I am amazed at how little stress I feel right now. Many activities that I would normally be participating in outside of work are not happening right now so I have minimal obligations and commitments.  I can’t remember a time in my life when I have had as much control over my time as I do right now.

Last week would have been back to school week for faculty and staff, the final push to get everything ready for tomorrow.  Last Tuesday, I woke up with a sore back that left me barely able to move.  I spend literally the entire day in the recliner alternating between heat and ice on my aching back…and the amazing thing was that I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it.  That was my first big ah-ha moment of the retired life.  I now have the luxury to take care of myself without the result of that being not getting work done or letting someone else down.  The laundry, vacuuming, even the dishes can wait another day without dire consequences.  Because hey, I don’t have to go anywhere so clean socks and underwear are not essential anymore. 🙂

Then on Thursday of last week, my daughter called and asked if we wanted to meet her and my grandson at the park in thirty minutes.  Why yes, yes we do!  Again, I was able to do that because I had no obligations to anything or anyone else.  The laundry did get done on Wednesday, which was a good thing because clean underwear is essential for a trip to a public park!

Resting when you are in pain and spending an hour at the park with your family may seem like small things, but it is these kinds of small things that create a big life, especially when it has been a long time since you have been able to experience and appreciate them in quite this way.  

I don’t have grand plans for retirement.  All I want to is to enjoy life – to take good care of myself and those I love, to receive each new day as the gift that it is, and to go to sleep every night with a heart filled with gratitude.

I am grateful for all those years of teaching, for the amazing students I met and the learning experiences that we shared.  I am blessed that several former students are now some of my dearest friends.  I know that I am fortunate to have had a job doing exactly what I wanted to be doing for all those years.  And now, a new chapter begins.

Tomorrow morning, instead of setting my alarm for 5am to get up and dressed to make that first impression and then be in my office by 6:30 making sure that all my ducks are in a row for the new semester, I’ll set my alarm for 6:45 to get up and dressed in sweats to go for a walk…unless it’s too wet or too cold, and then I’ll…

…drink lots of coffee, do the puzzles in the paper, draw, put Lego together, play my guitar,, read, knit, take some photos, do some strength training, run on the treadmill, write, throw a frisbee for the dogs, go back to sleep…maybe I’ll consider addressing that laundry, vacuuming, or the dishes…who knows what I may do.