In May of 2010 I “was” retired from my 25 year teaching career. That is, my contract was not renewed – for two reasons. First, and the one I tell everybody, is that with a Master’s degree and 20 some odd years of experience – I simply cost too much. The second is that somehow I ended up on the opposite side of the principal in the faculty politics of private Catholic high schools. In any event, here I was in the summer of 2010 at the end of a career. Upon retirement and in financial straights, I turned to to my first intellectual love, History. Casting about for something to do, I began the 1718 Project, This blog is part and parcel of that project. So far the project has been a success, in that it has kept occupied, if not gainfully so, for the past 2.75 years.
Regardless, it has taken that long for me to come to terms with my “retirement”
In the USA, in the 21st century, from the now extinct Middle Class, the question arises, what does one do in retirement ? First, I have to work the rest of my life. Presently, it is part time employment, which serves me well, at least for the time being. And predictably, I tend to gravitate to the things I’ve done for most of my life. One of the first things that happened upon “coming to terms with retirement” was the creation of a new study in a now-unused bedroom! It has become my haven of intellectual spirituality.
One of retirement’s greatest benefits is FREEDOM.
“The challenge of retirement is how to spend time without spending money.” ~Author Unknown
I no longer have to justify my daily activities. I can do what I want to do – because I’M RETIRED. I don’t have teach classes I have no interest in to further my career, to pay the mortgage, or to raise the kids. My kids are grown, I now rent a nice home, and my career is over. Now, I read history and write history! Now, I sell antiquarian books at an antique mall. Now, I cook gourmet dinners for my wife and myself, again. And, best of all, I write, compose, design the website, and post blogs about what I do.
NO JOB; NO MORTGAGE; NO WORRIES; NO MONEY: I’M RETIRED.
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