I always told myself and everyone else, I would teach until I died in my chair in the classroom. Then this past summer I started to seriously think about retirement. Then I went to a retirement meeting and really started thinking about it. And now, I'm feeling it.
I hear officials and umpires tell me that they never want to retire when they really need to. They never really want someone to tell them that it's time to retire. I completely understand that, and I agree. Lately, I've been thinking about the same thing with teaching. On the other hand, I haven't just been thinking it; I've been feeling it.
Maybe it's me just getting old, but it seems to me that students are getting more arrogant. They exude this cockiness that appears to state that I'm too old for them to really be a benefit to them. I'm sure I did the same thing as a teenage student with teachers I had that were nearing the end of their career. I'm not suggesting that I was better at that age. Or maybe they have always been this way, and I'm just sensing it more. I'd like to believe that because I'm so experienced that students should really listen to what I'm telling them - not because I'm smarter - because I just have been through it.
So in the ever nearer distance, I'm feeling retirement. I think I want to be available for my parents, for my grandchildren, and I really don't want to go out needing to retire. I want to retire before that time, when I still have something of value left to give but don't overdo it.
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