Last year I was excited and looking forward to the end of the school year. For those that didn't know or are new readers to the blog, I was excitedly counting down the days to the last day. I had personal a reason in which I won't delve much into other than to say I had an Albatross which I needed gone. It took longer than I had hoped.

So this year? I have mixed feelings. The school year is soon  to be over and the next school year is around the corner. But, it is one more year closer to being a retired retired. One more year older. 

I was having a tough time with this retirement thingy yesterday. My son had decided to stay through June upstate and I was bitching about it yesterday (not to him). But it was hitting me that next year he graduates and he'll soon be on his own. He turns twenty one at the end of the month, and time is flowing faster and faster.

Hey, I am sorry if I am getting mushy with "feelings," and whatnot. But the best way to feel better sometimes is to share. One former SBSB groupie whilst sharing feelings told me to "be a man." I think being a man is talking about your feelings. I mean I can be some mama's boy musclehead with tattoos and deep insecurity instead. That for sure is not a man. But I'll much, much rather be me.

However, I have digressed. Back to this retirement thingy.

One thing I am contemplating is working for the Post Office. I actually ran into my letter carrier last night and we had a discussion. He told me that one is never too old for the Post Office, that do not be a letter carrier, but rather, mail handler. I can do that. Along with my pension I'll start at over $19/hr plus overtime at the PO. Not bad. But the thoughts of working for someone, especially a Post Office manager, doesn't appeal to me much. 

A friend of mine and myself have always discussed opening a deli. But it's all about ___location.The food business is risky.

Car sales or some other kind of sales job seems enticing. Or I can be a greeter at Wal Mart.

One thing that keeps going through my head is to be creative. Something I should've focused on at SUNY-Purchase. 

I'll figure this thing out soon. 

I will not move to Florida under any circumstances. No 4:30 dinners for me!!

But retirement is coming. I'll be 65 in seven years. There better not be Medicare (Dis)Advantage awaiting me.

 Retirement is creeping up on me. I'm 58, and I don't want to be like Willie Mays sticking around too long and falling down in the World Series. I'm getting to be an old fart. There are teachers in my school who weren't born yet when I started in 1995. 

My answer to  the question "when will you retire?" has been "not until my son at least graduates college." He graduates in a year. In four years, on time. Part of me wishes he would be on the 13 year plan like myself. 

I keep getting this thought in my mind of a high school math teacher of mine. Hans Frigo invested heavily in stocks to prepare for his retirement. He would never shut up about this. Six months after he retired he was walking his poodle and dropped dead. Good thing he retired. 

It's starting to hit me that soon all I have known for twenty six years will be gone. Not that I am going to miss it and not that I will not not work. Hell, I made it to having the age and the years. I remember when I came back from my suspension in 2015 and I just wanted to get to 2021. And I did, with room to spare. With my mouth I was concerned. So were others. But I did it. I got there.

I need at least a year to decompress from the DOE. My way of decompressing after my 3020a hearings was to hit iHop on Central Ave and just eat pancakes. My fantasy is to live in the Adirondacks and live off the land for a year. Sadly, that is impractical so choice #2 will have to suffice. Live in Corning NY for a year. Sell cars or work at Wal Mart as a greeter. 

But other than that I don't see me having any connection to anything or anyone with the DOE. That is except blogging and staying involved with Solidarity, United for Change or whatever incarnation of the two there is. I am ready for the 2025 election!

There are people I will never see nor speak to again and there are those I will continue the relationships with. Less stress is what I am looking for. It's amazing how my glucose level rises during the week. 

Which brings me to a Billy Joel song that almost everyone in 1982 had quoted in their high school year books. Which reminds me, I want to see Billy Joel again.

Say a word out of line and you find
That the friends you had are gone
Forever, forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last, some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again

 I have the years and the age to retire. I just owe some money for my first few years that I hadn't paid into TRS and wanted to get some clarification.

Back in the good old days I was able to dial the Bronx UFT and either a) get through to someone at the switchboard, or b) call the pension people directly. Not anymore. The UFT has a new way to avoid your calls. It's non award winning concierge service. 

On October 26 I decided to make place the phone call to the Bronx UFT. I got the concierge service and promptly placed on hold.

I placed the phone call while on the Deegan at Fordham Rd. No one picked up until I was up on Elmsford where you get onto I-287 from the Thruway. I was then told that I would hear back from someone within 48 hours. It took a week. I got a date for a consultation. November 17. In person. In the Bronx. 

I'm excited and scared at the same time.

As much as I can’t stand the DOE and what it’s done to me, I’m looking at retirement with trepidation. It’s like I’m losing my identity. For 25 years this is all I have known and been. It's not that I got my identity from being a teacher, but this all I have known for 25 years. My year doesn't go from January to December, it goes from September to June.

I feel I need to decompress for at least a year after I retire from the DOE. It's the same feeling I had during my 3020a hearings. After the hearing I needed down time and stopped at IHop each night. I will need more than IHop.

My firsts choice to move to some cabin in the Adirondacks or the Catskills where my nearest neighbor is 5 miles away. I would live in this cabin for a year completely off the grid. I will forage and hunt for my food each day and chop wood for fire and heat. I will grow my hair long and have a manly beard. But this is just a fantasy.

My other dream is to live in Corning for a year or two (I lived there for about 6 months in 1986. In fact I nearly caused an international incident there. I must share one day). Kinda like reliving my youth, but this time as a so called "responsible" and "mature" adult. I figure I can sock my pension away and sell cars to
pay my bills. I've always wanted to sell cars. Or sell anything. Maybe I could be a greeter in Walmart. 

If Corning doesn't pan out there is always Binghamton or Hudson to live in. I really like both towns. But selling cars. 

I can't do the Florida thing. One more retired Jew from New York moving to Florida has become a stereotype. I used to ask my dad about why he hadn't retired to Florida. His answer was, "Florida is death's waiting room." Yeah a waiting room with the 4:30 early bird special.

I doubt I will retire anytime soon. My son is a junior in college, and he has another year to go. Also, I am not retiring without having another gig lined up. Part of me wants to write the book the late, great, Stu Schmelz and I discussed writing: "We Can't Make This Shit Up!" Just like Sparky Lyle and Graig Nettles had in their last years with the Yankees I can as well in my last year with the DOE. 

Something hit me as I was writing this. I'm sure there will be people I still communicate with and see. I don't think I will wither away in the night. But then there are people I was close to but will never ever see again due to distance or whatever reason. Sad.

Let's see what happens and what I hear on the 17th. Maybe I will hit mega millions.