Practice Makes...

In some ways, my 5-week medical leave has been like a retirement practice session. How will I spend my days when I have no reason to wake up at 5:15?

One thing is for sure. I won't be waking up at 5:15 if I don't have a job that requires such an ungodly alarm time. I have found that I enjoy sleeping. I really enjoy sleeping for 9 hours. I'm not much of a night owl so I have yet to find a reason to stay up much past 10:00 PM. Anything I think I might be missing in the late-night talk show circuit is pretty easy to find on YouTube the next day. Besides, my cat likes to go to bed early as well so by about 9:30 she's staring at me from the bottom step in the hopes of shooing me to bed.

Obviously, not working frees up a lot of time during the day, so I haven't been in much of a hurry to get things done. For the last 5 weeks, the only thing on my schedule has been two visits to physical therapy a week. That left me with time to help out my mom and spend time on the exercise bike at the gym.

Unfortunately, my recent surgery has kept me from doing many things I plan to do in retirement. Except for helping out my mom ninety miles away, I have not traveled much beyond my couch, physical therapy, and some walks around my block. I have been able to see friends who were kind enough to help me out when I needed assistance.

I've also still been tied to my job. Throughout my time at home, I've been in touch with my long-term sub to adjust plans. I've also graded a few things in the hopes of coming back to as little work as possible. Back to work starts Monday- it will be tough, especially that early morning alarm, but that's okay, after 29.5 years of teaching I can see a lot of bright light at the end of the tunnel.