Because there is no longer a schedule conflict with what I will refer to henceforth as Parttime Job #2, the one that is over, gone, vamoose, stolen from me, another emotional coulee -- I am able to say "YES" to wage-earning opportunities that will fill both my pocketbook and my soul. One of the issues that precipitated the separation was my asking for an hour off two days a week to teach a class in the same city. After I got my boxes in the car, I raced back home and emailed off a "YES" to that one. It promises professional challenges, a few or more laughs, some real hard work connecting the material to the students.... ahhhhh. That's one door opened. And, today, I said "YES" to teaching a class at another school, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons -- that door would never have been opened by the former boss! It's a new class in my satchel, though still one of the Social Studies. I'll be able to have new rooms, new faces, new text, new factors to consider, and at the same time, use lots of my already-prepared assignments and class activities. Another .... ahhhhh.
I lectured tonight on "Middle Adulthood" which is the lifestage between Age 40 and Age 60. We watched a movie (remember David Hartman?) that made, very well, the point that this is the last stage where you can trust your mind and body to stick with you all the way to the end. And menopause and empty nests (for both men and women) bring a sense of liberation, the desire to find and follow old passions, and an imperative to discover something new. I am so totally in this stage. I am in the middle... of the road, of life, of the bridge. There is a sense of time running out, and, I am asking myself, Where Have I Been? and, Who Am I Today?
The youngest kid is admirably independent, self-sufficient, and busy. The Hubby has found his new hobby (fishing, lots of it). Now I have the time to figure out if I am the same person that I was 20 years ago, "pre-children," or not. What did I learn in those years when I was so busy being The Mrs. and The Mom, plus The Wage-Slave, that I wasn't sure some days why that lady in the mirror looked so tired? I can remember driving the road and having a CRS moment: not knowing where I was going or even who I was; my psyche was so malleable that Nicholas Cage or Jamie Curtis movies about body-switching and alternate planes didn't always stay in the "TV: Fiction" category of my mind.
I suspect there are lots of .... ahhhhh moments in my future. Now I have time to enjoy them! And some of them are going to be in those new classrooms this spring.... Gotta go and work on the reading list.... ahhhhh.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment