Retirement. RETIREMENT. ReTirEMent. No matter how I spell the word retirement, it leaves me with questions. I ask myself questions about what I will do in retirement and others continually ask me what I will do. The answer to all of the questions is that I am uncertain. On the other hand, I am certain, I will find plenty to occupy my time. The occupation will simply change from grading endless stacks of papers, preparing for classes, and attending meetings to activities of my choice: reading, crocheting, shopping, meeting friends, both retired and actively working.
I will retire August 1, so the first order of business is completing the summer classes successfully. Along with that, I must clean out my office. After working in the same place for twenty-four years, I have accumulated a great deal of this and that! I have sorted through a number of books already and donated them. I still have more books to give away or keep, depending upon how I feel as I look through them.
Over the years, I have also accumulated a number of activities to use in classes. I am sharing many of those on a Blackboard site in hopes that the activities will live on after I am retired—until someone else deletes the materials! I am hopeful that others will use the activities I have created.
Another action to complete this summer is posting materials from past faculty development workshops on a Blackboard site. The materials and flyers document past work and will give future faculty development teams a little history.
Now, on to retirement days—–I will continue to choose books for the Northeast Campus book club, READ. As a retiree, I will read more books than I have been reading since paper grading interfered with reading! I’ve already chosen books for fall 2016, spring 2017, and summer 2017. I decided to call myself a book whisperer and a crocheter since I have been successful in suggesting books for other people to read and have done fairly well in choosing books for the READ group over the years. Crocheting is hobby that occupies some of my time. I enjoy taking a pattern and turning the yarn into something tangible and useful.
I have been taking Turkish cooking lessons at Raindrop Turkish House in Broken Arrow and made some delightful new friends as well as learned about Turkish culture and food. Raindrop Turkish House also has a ladies’ book club and ladies’ coffee nights which I have been attending. These are activities to continue in retirement.
Retirement. RETIREMENT. ReTirEMent—starts a new adventure. I forgot to mention that keeping up with my blog will be another part of retirement!
Parkdalear's Blog 