It’s been about five months since I retired from being a public school teacher. I taught for 34 years, all for the Long Beach Unified School District. The District gave me another year, since I had a little over a year’s worth of unused sick days, which factors into my $ from the State Teachers’ Retirement System.
I thought retirement would be easy, but it’s not. Right after school ended, we had to focus on putting on Mom’s 80th birthday luncheon. It felt like planning for a week’s worth of lessons, without the administration breathing down my neck. Overall, it went very well. We could’ve done some things differently, but everyone had a great time.
During the month of September, we stayed at Mom’s so that we can follow our daughter’s Feather River College indoor volleyball team, as it toured the Sacramento, Stockton, and Bay areas to face its non-conference opponents. Since 1979, when I moved away to attend USC, it was the first time that I spent a prolonged period of time at the home where I spent my childhood. A lot of things had changed, but our stay was pleasant. Following our daughter and her team made up for the cancellation of her high school senior year of volleyball due to COVID.
Settling back at home to some type of routine has not been easy. There’s no real deadlines to meet, except for paying the bills. One of my musician friends who has been retired for awhile shared with me that it takes about six months to get used to being retired. I would have to agree with him. It definitely takes time to transition into retirement. God has reminded through our Pastor Chet, and Pastor Jeff, that we need to pour our lives into others, especially those who have not received the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As long as I can put that in the forefront of my mind and heart, this transition will be easier as the days go by.
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