Five Days and Some Parallels

Spent five hours in my classroom at Oak Ridge again today.  My classroom where I teach my students. On this Sunday afternoon I got into the school using my badge and my key. In less than a week, I won't have a badge to get into the school or a key or even a room of my own, and I won't be seeing those students in the same way ever again. It all seems so foreign.  After an entire year of counting down to the end of my career, the number of days left can be shown with one hand: 0.0005 or 1/2,000 in decimal or fraction form.

I am reminded of eleven years ago when I spent an entire year in the process of moving to Hong Kong.  Beginning in September of 2000, I worked on my application forms to Search Associates, wrote my CV, asked teachers and parents to write letters, attended the job fair in Cambridge, MA, was offered a position at Hong Kong International School, cleaned out closets and packed some things to take and others to put in storage. That was after tossing, selling, and donating many other items. Yes, both my car and Matthew's car were totaled that year (omens that I should get away from winter?), but the biggest focus was on July 14, 2001, the day I left for Hong Kong.  Some of my friends thought I was crazy, some were a bit envious, but most thought I was brave. To me, it just seemed right.

My first feeling on arriving in Hong Kong was loneliness.  I knew no one--not one single person on the entire continent.  The concierge at my hotel told me which bus would take me to Repulse Bay so I could see my new school.  Looking out the huge windows of the bus, I saw many people walking along holding hands.  Some were young couples, others included a grandmother and grandson, and a mother and her daughter.  On that day I shed a few tears, seeing families and lovers and feeling so alone and out of my element.  Despite the beautiful ocean view and the clear blue sky, the confidence I had felt in leaving Minneapolis faded away and a new uncertainty took its place.

In the bus back to my hotel in Causeway bay, I had a few moments of self-pity, but they didn't last.  On my way to find a restaurant, I ran into a Rob and Becky Dickson and their three young children.  Also new to HKIS, they invited me to join them for dinner.  Their warmth began to melt my worries, and, as those first days and months unfolded, living in Hong Kong became the new normal and I felt at home. When the Twin Towers went down weeks after my arrival, my Hong Kong friends and I comforted each other and bonded, and I realized that all would be fine.

What I hadn't thought about was that, after I arrived in Hong Kong, there would be a whole new world open to me.  That world would include new friends, new work, travel and adventure, much of which I could not have imagined before I lived it.  The five years that followed took me to places I had only read about such as the Taj Mahal, the Terra Cotta Warriors, a cruise on the Nile, golf in Thailand, and other places and adventures too numerous to mention in this space today.  The friends I made and the memories we shared will remain with me forever. When I left them, it was difficult, but I knew I would adjust to another new school and another new position. 

This year the date in question is June 8, 2012, my final day at Oak Ridge Elementary in Independent School District 196.  Again I am cleaning out closets and packing a few things to take home and many others to store for my successor, Jody.  Again I am filling recycle bins and giving things away.  My students and colleagues will enjoy the books, puppets and materials that I won't need any more.

I wonder whether I will feel lonely and lost next fall when I don't return to what has become natural after all these years, but already-retired friends tell me I might. Those still teaching are a bit envious. I think I may shed a few tears on Friday.  Saying goodbye is never easy, saying goodbye to a career seems impossible.  I may question my decision to retire as I enter uncharted territory, but my head and my heart tell me it is the right time.  I am hopeful that a new world waits for me with adventures that I can't even imagine at the moment.  I know all will be fine.  Fine?  All will be great and as it is meant to be.