This is terrific, John. I love your writing!

I admire your work ethic. I am sure that it pays off handsomely at your school and with your students.

I retired in 2003 at the age of 56 after teaching in urban public schools for 34 years. The time had come for me. Retirement, as most people know it, was still a few years off for me, as I had been accepted into the Peace Corps, which kept me quite busy for two years.

I know of a few different ways that some retirement systems work. In one of them, retirees get a certain amount of money for each sick day not used. That's not the way mine worked: mine was simply a use-it-or-lose-it system. I had a lot of sick days left during my last year.

Since I was going to be leaving the country for two years, I arranged with a retired teacher friend to be my substitute, and I annexed two full weeks to the one-week spring break that I would have. I arranged for myself a "farewell tour" to see friends and family in St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, New York, and D.C. I had the peace of mind knowing that a good friend was in charge in my classroom, and I felt that I was making good use of my sick days that would otherwise have been lost.

Hard to believe that this spring will be twenty years since that "farewell tour."

There is, indeed, life after retirement. I hope you enjoy yours. You're a guy who makes the most of everything. You're going to be fine!