When I grow up~

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Since I was six I answered the proverbial question with a simple, no-nonsense reply, "Be a teacher."

My 34-year career will end this June. Seven years ago I applied for early retirement, a state "incentive" designed to rid the profession of older, therefore higher paid, teachers.

For seven years I've been asked, "What do you want to do when you retire?" far more than I was ever asked the other question.

People assume-- rightfully-- that no one retires and sits around letting cobwebs gather. Demographics promise, barring any misfortune-- knock, knock-- that I have a good number of years ahead, decades. I'm counting on three, at least. Certainly enough time to do something when I retire.

So while I floundered with the answer at first, as the questions persisted I began to think seriously about just what I would do when foot loose and fancy free.

And now, with less than 100 school days to go, the question I ask myself is, "What won't I do when I retire?" I have a finger in lots of pies, and I've got my eye on a few others, and unexpected opportunities will appear.

What do I want to do when I grow up? Lots of things!

Here's a pre-retirement venture-- the latest issue of the Internet Review of Books, brainchild of a retired friend who isn't letting any cobwebs gather either. Check it out.
~~~~~
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ~E. E. Cummings