How’m I Doin’?

Arlene Blackman Yolles ♦ February 8, 2013 ♦ 7 Comments

When people learn that I am recently retired, they immediately ask, “How do you like it?” My response is always, “What’s there not to like?” I’d worked for over 40 years, enjoyed teaching Mathematics at many different levels and grades, from fifth grade to college, and now take pleasure in my well-deserved retired life. Here, in no meaningful order, is a Letterman List of 10 reasons why:

1. Not having to get up at 6 A.M. every morning, especially those ice-cold days when the fire has gone out (we heat with wood) and there’s frost on the windows.

2. As a direct result of the above, I can stay up late to watch all those old episodes of Seinfeld and Raymond.

3. No more parental discourse, emails, frantic phone calls, drop-in requests for conferences or disappointment because little Sally earned an 89 on her Geometry test, rather than the 98’s she’d earned last year in Algebra.

4. No need to h-u-r-r-y ever! Who’s gonna care if I haven’t eaten breakfast until 11? So what if I’m still in my pajamas at noon? Bed not made until 2 P.M.? Big deal!

5. Vacations can be taken any time of the year, not just according to the school calendar. This saves lots of money, opens up accommodations and airline availability, avoids crowds and allows travel to locations during ideal, not just convenient, times.

6. I can babysit my granddaughters when needed.

7. I can shop for food ANY DAY I WANT TO! This may not seem to be a big deal but let me tell you…if Saturday is the only day you can do food shopping, it really cuts into your day, especially when you only have two non-working ones!

8. No homework or grading papers.

9. No faculty meetings.

10. I don’t have to wear orange for Halloween, red for Valentine’s Day, green for Earth Day, etc. In fact, I can wear whatever the hell I want any day I want to. No more shopping for “teacher clothes.”

In all honesty, there is one component of my former career that I sorely miss and that’s the great staff and administration at my last school. I miss them all … a lot. I try to keep in touch, meet for lunch or dinner and keep up with their lives. But it’s not the same as seeing them every day.

All in all, as Ed Koch used to ask, “How’m I doing?” My answer has to be: “Great!”