Teaching

My mother was a teacher.  My aunt was a teacher.  Our daughter and son-in-law are teachers.  I guess it is in our blood?  Anyway, as I am FINALLY nearing retirement, I've been doing a lot of thinking.  Basically, I had a 5 week rest over winter break because I was off work for 6 days after my concussion, went back to work for 4 days, and then was off for 3 more weeks (our winter break).  So, I had a LOT of time on my hands.  It's difficult to do much here in the summer because of the heat, but during the winter months, the desert is gorgeous!  I really didn't do much...I visited the horses 3 or 4 times, had lunch with a colleague, and we did spend one weekend up in Idyllwild.  Otherwise, I stayed home.  I trimmed trees out front, I weed wacked, I cleaned up ALL the dog poop (YEAH!), I trimmed trees out back, and I even washed my car!  The house is now SUPER CLEAN and I got rid of piles of clothes which needed to be folded.  I washed and washed and washed the kitchen floor, I washed old pots and pans, and I even found the two cast iron skillets that we have out in the garage!  But, ... (and I hate to say this...) I was ... BORED.  I can only do housework for so long.  I read 3 books over vacation and watched countless movies.  But then my desktop computer crashed and now I only have hubby's laptop (which I have to use while he's asleep).   He had an older SONY laptop which always had battery problems that he has now sent in for repair, and I should be getting that in the mail next week.  He offered to pay for its repair rather than me having to buy a new laptop.  I used to use that SONY one and it's a VERY nice laptop, so I am glad he offered to do that!   :-)  So, by next weekend, I should be up and running again and able to post photos...The first thing I'll do is install a virus protection program (I didn't update one on my desktop and it was FULL of MALWARE!)...ACK!  I though hubby did it, he thought I did it, and neither one of us DID IT!  ... lesson learned...

Anyway, back to my original thoughts about retirement...I will limp through this year (this year's class is the MOST difficult one I've had in 28 years of teaching)...and the next 2 years.  NO promises after that!  I'll be 62 next month (February 14th) and if I teach 2 more years, I'll retire at age 64.  I really don't think I can last until 65, BUT, as you all know, I DO have 5 horses to feed!!!  Sometimes I get overwhelmed with that thought because their food and care will be 1/4 of my retirement income...Do any of you have any thoughts or ideas about retirement?

In the meantime, here is an old photo of me with the kids at Disneyland, about ... 1981?  Hal is about two and he was born in 1979...???  YES, they BOTH sucked their thumbs!  I didn't use a binkie with either one of them...