The Great Adventure

I just sent in an email. It was addressed to our person in charge of HR, our university president, our academic dean, and my department chair.

In it, I officially announced my retirement as of June 30, 2021.

I know it’s still early, but I hate leaving things unresolved. And the indecision has been driving me crazy. I’ve heard all the horror stories of people who retire, then a year or two later go back to work when they realize they don’t have enough money to live on. I’ve gone over our finances time and time again. And to my untrained eye, we look good. I think we will be okay.

But there’s always that nagging feeling that I’ve missed something. Something important.

So for the past year or so, I have debated whether retiring was the right thing to do or not. After all, they still want me in the classroom, and for the most part, I’m still enjoying myself. I could go another few years if I needed to.

I’ve talked to many, many retirees. And with every person I talk to, I get a completely different story. So that doesn’t help.

Yesterday was when I decided to take the plunge. Ken Shaw, the university president, came by my office. And during our conversation, I happened to say (I don’t know why) “this will be my last year.” When I told Mike Agee, my department chair, later what I did, he told me that I needed to make the formal announcement soon so that the university could move ahead. For a while, there was some concern that they wouldn’t replace me when I retired, but the school is doing very well in enrollment right now, so I suspect the timing is good in that regard.

So I pulled the trigger. It is now going to happen. And I’ve already decided that when people ask me what I do, I won’t tell them that I’m retired. Instead, I’ll tell them:

“I’m a full-time writer.”