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GentlewoodFarms
February 23, 2013

Retired?

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Last May, I retired from 32 years of teaching school. I was looking forward to long days filled with only what I wanted to do. I had a list of projects that I wanted to do - cleaning off porches, painting the spare bedroom, refinishing my antique bedroom suite, cleaning out closets, cleaning out my tack room, RIDING MY HORSE...

Then I went to Italy in October and decided that I wanted to go back to Europe again someday. To do that, I was going to need a little more substantial part-time check. So I quit my job at my LSS and went back to school. Literally.

I started substituting in October - for the same district that I had retired from - and was getting called in pretty regularly, like 3 to 4 times a week. I liked that it was "free lance" and that I could say, "no, I have to be at the dentist today," or "actually, I'm in Tulsa with my Mom."

In January, the sixth grade math and science teacher quit. The district placed an ad, looking for a replacement, but in the meantime filled the slot with temporary substitute teachers. A sub for a day is one thing, but finding a qualified one for long term is not an easy thing. The poor kids had something like five different subs in three weeks. By late January, the principal was pretty desperate.

I got the sub call on a day I was able to be there. When I walked into the building, the assistant principal told me, "Barry is going to have a question for you at the end of the day. You need to think about how you are going to answer it." Only an idiot wouldn't have been able to figure out what that question was. And sure enough, at the end of the day, the principal asked if I'd consider taking the class through the end of the year.

Hmmm. WELL.... I go to Tulsa one day a week to see my mom, so I really can't COME every day. He said, "we'll work around that..." The science teacher from last year agreed to do that one day a week, so what else was there to say but, "yes"?

It's not so bad, but it's not my idea of "retired" either. But it was just such a BAD situation - something needed to happen, so I'm the solution. I did tell the principal when I agreed that he needed to continue looking for a permanent solution, but the next day, he pulled the ad.

The photo is the first bus of the morning dropping kids off. It's about 7:30 a.m. and I've been at work a half-hour already. Yeah, I'm retired alright. Paint the word "sucker" on my forehead.

But I think I see a trip to Paris in my future.

******

For My Project 52, Week 5

The big chrysanthemum is one I made using a set of Nestabilities scallop circles. The flourish is just free handed using dimensional paint. The rest of the flowers are left overs from my stash. The Thickers alpha stickers came from a Peachy Cheap deal of the day.



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