The Transition to Retirement

One thing I've quickly found out is that when you have been teaching for as long as I taught it is very difficult to wind down. Your brain and body are telling you that you must be doing something! Relaxing is going to take some practice.

I have decided to not have any further mention of the St. Johns County school system except to respond to news reports. Getting into a pissing match with individuals won't improve the schools here so why bother? I would like to say that my last year at Bartram Trail we earned another "A" on the FCAT test that Florida has as a mandatory test. What does this mean to me personally? About half of my lawn equipment will now be paid for! Other than that, not much.

I am sitting here with our little tiger Sam, who we nicknamed 'Sam the Man' because of his feisty nature. Here is a photo of Sam one of the few times he has been relaxed.

Learning to relax

I am still in "teacher mode" where I feel like I should be doing something every moment. It's going to take awhile to retrain myself and give myself permission to relax. 30 years of living in a high stress environment is a lot to overcome.