Gratitude: Thirty days to retirement... or so my retirement a...

Gratitude: Thirty days to retirement... or so my retirement a...: Thirty days to retirement... or so my retirement app says! The definition of retirement is withdrawal, departure, seclusion, retreat.  Re...

Thirty days to retirement... or so my retirement app says!

The definition of retirement is withdrawal, departure, seclusion, retreat.  Retirement! What an ugly word! It sounds like you are going away somewhere never to be seen again.  In Spanish the word for retirement is "Jubilacion".  Yes, even if you don't speak Spanish, you can tell the word sounds like fun, like jubilee.  If you mention to someone that you are retiring in 30 days, their responses are enough to send you into depression.  "You better stay involved", "You should volunteer", "Start a Hobby", and other ideas that suggest that all of a sudden you will have no purpose in life, your brain will deteriorate immediately and the walker or cane must be on your wish list for retirement presents. How depressing!

I would like to think of retirement as the culmination of years in a successful career.  A moment to be proud of your accomplishments, to take stock on the difference you've made, but also to start a new chapter, one that has no boundaries and that is open without limits.  The most important part of planning for retirement is to have new goals, new adventures planned and just ask my husband how good I'm at planning.  It's not the end of a life but rather the beginning of a new one.  I have enjoyed my career.  I am lucky that I have spent 28 years around students.  When you are around students you are constantly learning. You keep yourself young.  We think we are teaching them but at the end they are teaching us.

As a teacher, I was able to inspire students to succeed, to have goals and to help them accomplish these goals.  I was able to teach them how to learn beyond the classroom.  As an administrator, I've had many teachable moments but also so many learning moments.  If you just listen, the music will play.  The music played for me many times.  I have touched so many and so many have touched me in ways I could not have imagined.

But now, I'm planning for retirement...thirty days from now.  I'm not retreating, withdrawing, or secluding myself.  I'm going to start new adventures, meet new people, touch different lives, read more books, enjoy more sunrises, more "cafecitos", have more time for relationships, learn a new language, maybe write a book, and whatever appears in the horizon.

I'm ready!