Every summer I swore I wasn’t going to buy much for my classroom. Every summer I lied to myself. Apparently, I believed that one more set of bins, another border, a few motivational posters, and a small forest’s worth of laminated cardstock would be the thing that finally transformed me into the teacher from a Hallmark movie. My pocketbook never recovered. The local delivery drivers probably had me listed as “frequent flyer.”
And now… fast forward.
This September, instead of wandering the aisles looking for the world’s cutest pencil organizers or convincing myself that yes, I absolutely needed another set of colourful baskets, I’ll be sailing to Bermuda on a cruise. While my former colleagues are greeting a brand-new group of scholars, I’ll be greeting the breakfast buffet.
Life is funny that way.
I would be lying if I said it wasn’t bittersweet. After all, thirty-three Septembers don’t just disappear because you’ve retired. They become part of your DNA. There is still a little voice in my head wondering if I have enough glue sticks and whether I remembered to photocopy the first week’s math package. Old habits die hard.
As Albert Einstein supposedly said, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Whether he actually said it or not is another story, but the sentiment fits. September still marks a new beginning. It always will. Only now, the classroom has changed.
This season has been filled with travel, exploration, reconnecting with people I hadn’t seen in years, embracing new adventures, and slowly purging the remnants of a life I loved but no longer live. It turns out retirement isn’t the end of a story; it’s simply the start of a chapter where no one is asking if you’ve finished report cards yet.
As the saying goes, “To everything there is a season.”
This autumn is mine.
So here’s a toast to every educator heading back into the beautiful chaos of another school year. May your coffee stay hot longer than first recess, may the photocopier cooperate, may your Wi-Fi behave itself, and may your students make you laugh every single day.
And here’s a toast to the young scholars beginning a new adventure. May you discover something that changes the way you see the world.
Finally, here’s a toast to those of us entering a different kind of September. May we embrace this new season with the same curiosity, optimism, and sense of adventure we spent decades trying to inspire in others.
Happy New Year… September style. That’s my story- what’s yours?
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