Well, since I am now committed to at least one more year in a classroom, when I will be 69 by its end, perhaps I might accept a couple of things.
1. I will never retire. I will have to be dragged out of the classroom
2. My National Board Certified Teacher status expires November 2015. I think I can justify renewing it
3. Being around teenagers is what keeps me feeling young
4. Not having biological children, what I do as a teacher is my principal contribution to the future of this nation as a liberal democracy (that's a political science categorization) and this world as a habitable place
5. Teaching remains my primary political action, even more than my blogging or my friendships with Congressmen, US and State Senators, and other public and party officials
6. My primary yoga teacher tells me this is how I live my dharma
7. when I retired temporarily from the classroom, my wife says I was impossible to live with, and totally at loose ends
8. if this means I never write any of the books people urge me to take on, I can live with it
Of course, right now others still want me to continue in my role as a classroom teacher. At my age (68 3 weeks from yesterday) one never knows how quickly one can lose it.
Which is why I have changed my diet, lost weight, exercise (yoga, weights, and now running), make sure I get sufficient rest.
I will still be driving 45 miles each way. I am now approaching that differently. I take my time, I listen to music. I reflect. If I hit the occasional traffic jam, I have allowed enough time so that it does not matter.
and relevant to this site - when I choose to be involved in a political issue or campaign, I am able to do so with energy, with passion, and without burning myself out.
Guess I am entitled to keep my moniker as teacherken?
Have a nice weekend.