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The next five: Part 4

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Only one more year. At this time next year I will be making my final leap into retirement, and I have to say that right now, I can hardly wait. I may feel differently in 12 months, but right now, my world is rosy.

What will I do? May be I'll be able to write this blog more often than every three or four or six months. That's a primary goal. I want to write this blog, a newspaper column, a magazine column, a book, and a decent Christmas letter! I want to write words for my grandchildren.

And that's the next thing I want to do: spend a lot of time with my three grandchildren. I may be asking for a larger cookie than I can chew, but I want to be sure that they know me--and love me--as they grow. Lily will be in elementary school, Garrett will be in pre-school, and for the first year or two, Max will be at home, so I can continue to teach him the great joy of reading.

As evidenced by my freshman college students, so many youngsters grow up today with no sense of history. Specifically, most students have no vision of life without technology. They have trouble imagining life without the World Wide Web, without cell phones, without Twitter, without iPads, and without fantasy characters. In addition to the distant history they will learn, I want my grandchildren to understand the Social Security Act, World War II, the Medicare Act, the Civil Rights Act, Title IX, Watergate, the fact that TV didn't exist as we know it until the 1950s. Each of these events influences our life today, so they need to be aware of the vast change that took place in the past 100 years.

I also want to be involved in church and community. I want to keep in touch with friends--a task made simpler by Facebook. I want to lose weight, be healthy, and keep my teeth, my hearing, and my eyesight. 

That said, if the Lord calls me tomorrow, I am ready. As my 87-year-old friend tells me, I am ready for the bus, but I don't have my ticket yet! So until my ticket arrives, I'll work for one more year, do my best for my students, and look forward to the day I am released from working to the world.

Mrs. B

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