Apple Slices VI

An apple for the teacher...

Teachers went back to school this week.
I'm not a teacher any more.
So, what am I now?

I loved being a teacher for 32 years, but I finished. 
Not for a moment have I longed to go back, but it's a weird thing not to be a teacher any more.
So, who am I now?

I've been through several phases of figuring out this not-being-a-teacher thing. 
So, how many phases until it feels normal? 

One weird thing is that form you get at appointments:
Name ☑ 
Birthday ☑
Address ☑
Phone ☑
Insurance ☑
Occupation... sigh... What to put?  "None" or how about "Undecided" or just leave it blank?

Another weird thing was the last day of school this year. 
It marked a whole year... a whole year...
At first I wondered what I'd done with a whole year. 
Had I just piddled a whole year away?
So I made a list: 

• Helped my dad settle into a retirement center
• Pilates and yoga 3-4 times a week
• Disney World with the kids
• Started hanging paintings in the doctor's office
• Three different crafting weekends at Welcome Home Retreat
• Read the Bible through
• Visited the Grand Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Sedona, stood on the Corner of Winslow, Arizona
• Editing project for a petroleum consulting firm
• Time with our daughter in Maryland
• Present with Jolene in her last days
• Cabin in West Virginia (lovely, but much like my own back yard which is free)
• Spent a week in a hospital room with my sister
• Monthly visits with Aunt Anita and helping her write her memoirs
• Big trip to Indonesia where we worked in an orphanage, in village homes, and in several schools
• Chickens
• Garden
• Cooking

Ok... Maybe I should stop beating myself up because of all the little jobs that I was sure I would get to right away... I suppose haven't been a complete sloth... 
But it sure has been wonderful to move in slow gear... work a crossword puzzle...  read a book... go to lunch with a friend... paint... scroll through Facebook... sit on the back porch and watch all that goes on...

So... I still don't know what to write in that Occupation blank...

...It's okay.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas
Click "Apple Slices VI" to purchase a little apple painting.