She's done!

My wife's salaried life is over. She put in her last day of teaching yesterday.

We thank God that she was able to work this long. We also thank Him that the state retirement system exists, and He helped us to obtain full retirement compensation from them, even though she did not work when either of the girls were little.

There were some problems. All jobs have them. There were unreasonable regulations, co-workers (none part of her team) whose main goal seemed to be to avoid work, parents who didn't have a clue as to how to guide their children, and children who didn't cooperate. There were emotions because a child wasn't doing well, or had awful circumstances at home. There were discipline problems. There was an incident when a child hurt herself and tried to get my wife in trouble for it. She often wished that she and her team members had been closer.

On the other hand, there were good things, and good times. Many of them. There were kids who loved her, parents who appreciated her, kindnesses done by co-workers, kids who really learned, or who were really turned on, and other great experiences.

It's been, overall, a God-given career. On the whole, she liked it. Let's put it this way--she offered to come back and help her co-workers as a volunteer next year. Thanks, Lord, for allowing her to help others for these many years, and for all the other public school teachers who are your servants, and are coming back to work next year.