Starla, the ex-librarian?

So I just sent an e-mail to the woman who manages the information research course for which I wrote the textbook. I told her I won't be teaching in Fall semester (I had thought about it hard) and I probably won't teach in Spring semester either, although that's a bit more open. I actually said I'm ready to be finished with being a librarian. And while that was 1/2 my identity for a very long time (the other 1/2 was mom with the third 1/2 being wife) I may be ready to let it go. I sent my beautiful leather briefcase and datebook/wallet/phone & address book/instant note-keeper to my sister Allison, who can use them far more than I. They're in the mail as I write--mailed Saturday--so a very visible part of the librarian is gone.

I have, not illogically, mixed feelings about this step. Most of us in the U.S. have our jobs as a huge part of our interior identities, so consciously, intentionally walking away from that is a major shock to many internal systems. I'm working hard at remembering to take each day as a new one. I have no plans right now for anything, except that Stan mentioned that he wants to go to Parc Safari maybe this week. That's a pretty neat zoo/amusement park attraction just over the border in Canada. (Looks like I'm into //s today!) I haven't been there since I took the girls and my sister Siara and her family there in ... ... 1990? 1988? Who knows! I just looked at the Web site and discovered that it costs $35/person. Since the Canadian dollar is so close to the U.S. dollar right now maybe we won't go! I'll let Stan decide that one.

Back to the idea of being fully retired. Writing this right now is actually a demonstration of the whole retired thing: I have a couple of things to do but if I feel like writing in my blog, that's what I can do. Hmmm. Will I stay unemployed? Well, I did run into the college Provost's wife working at the closure of JoAnn's Fabric's and she said she works through a temp agency whenever she feels like it. I figure if the Provost's wife can do it, I could. We shall see.

All the heavy thinking I want to do at the moment. Just to assuage my German conscience I'd better do the housework chore I assigned myself for today.

Later.