Week 18 2024

I attended a retirement party yesterday. Very few things put your work into perspective. Three faculty members in Art and Design—two of them hired after I arrived—wrapped up their careers with cake, appetizers, and a bunch of us celebrating their work.

One of my favorite moments of the year is coming up—when classes wrap up, and all that’s left are final project grading and students moving out. There’s an air of accomplishment. Everyone feels that sense of “whew, we made it.” But for those who retire, this is the big “whew, we made it.” I’m a ways off of retiring, but yesterday made me think forward to that moment. I imagine I will feel relieved, but at the pace I have been working, will I have any energy left to enjoy retirement?