Calling it Quits, Well Almost

As many of you know, I am a public school teacher by day, and I play in my studio and teach art classes from time to time after hours. Well, this June, I am calling the day job quits, well almost. I have resigned my job as an Achievement Specialist, filled out the necessary papers at the state retirement office, and got my letter from the School Board accepting my letter of intent to retire. They offered me no cost medical insurance if I go in and sub just 25 days a year, so I took them up on that. You can understand why if you check the price of out of pocket medical insurance, oh my goodness. The fabulous part of that is that I get to pick whichever days I want to do that, and in what classrooms. Third grade on early release days, which are every Thursday, sound just about right to me. Then I can spend the rest of my time hanging out with my daughter with the grandkids and my daughter who teaches days in a public school/art studio. I get to pick those days, too, which will leave me lots of freedom to do what I wanna do every day when I wake up.
I can also travel some and go to more art retreats. I am weighing over several in my mind right now. I want to go back to NYC in a big, big way. Maybe take a few college classes, not to jump hoops for some degree program, just for the fun of learning. I am fantasizing about putting more of what I'm working on on my blog since I haven't shown much of that lately due to time constraints, and making some of my sketches and ideas for teaching more art classes come to life, too. I'm gonna give all that a year and then see if I wanna get another job that ties me down. I've got a picture from a magazine of a public school bus going down the road which I have been saving to incorporate into a journal page for the last day. The only thing left in 30 years is 30 something days and counting...