The first year of my retirement was the 2007-2008 school year. It was a sense of elated freedom washing over me the morning I observed cars hurriedly streaming down the road by my house the first day of school. My last three years of teaching was in our neighborhood school just three blocks from our house. Instead of running on pure adrenaline that Fall morning of 2007, I was sipping coffee and wondering what would be my next venture in this life.
The first year of my retirement would prove to be the best year I had spent in a long time, and since. My husband teaches theater arts on a 9th grade campus in a nearby town. It was a joy to join him at his school to stage a production of Our Town. My free time also allowed me to help Kim direct a play at the Baytown Little Theater. It was the previous summer of 2007 that a car crashed into our beloved theater facility. The crash caused major damage to the building and we had to move our production venue to a nearby church building. I painted set pieces, decorating chairs and backdrops with stenciling and created set decoration for Neil Simon's,The Good Doctor. The theater volunteer work was only part of what I had fun accomplishing that first year of retirement. My job search was for the most part non-existent.
The following year I soon had to go to work teaching reading tutorials twice a week back at the school I had worked before. It was pretty satisfying work and good pay for only 2 hours a week. Although, a little bit of pay, it was not near enough to supplement my TRS check. By the time the following school year came around, our budget was in dire need of supplements to bulk up bill-paying power.
The fall of 2008 I began working with the University of Houston, Clear Lake as an intern supervisor. I loved my work with the senior student teachers. My experience as a teacher in addition to my Master's Degree was finally paying off. The interns were a pleasure to work with as I observed their excited energy to become the best teachers they could. The two-course pay was a nice supplement to my TRS paycheck. I thought I could do this forever, not realizing the summers were going to tax our budget once again.
I'd never worked during the summer months in my life. The thought of working while Kim was off during the months we normally vacationed made me depressed. Mostly, I did nothing to find a summer job. I didn't want to work in the summer. The spring semester as the university supervisor met with university problems. Budget cuts within the university, resulted in the US course load to be cut back from 2 courses to one course. That pay cut was significant and I decided to try to work with the school district again. The substitute teaching jobs was sparse. I gave tests for the Gifted and Talented program which paid the best and I continue to test with that program whenever possible. However, Texas Retirement System rules make it almost impossible to work for two TRS institutes at one time. Tracking my work hours was tedious and stressful to say the least. The following fall semester of 2009 would be the last semester I worked for the university. If it had not been for testing GT students that spring, I might not have made much money at all.
Eventually, a friend suggested a tax preparation service she knew needed extra help for tax season. By January of 2009, I had a full time job working for a tax and financial service. The work environment was the perfect place for me. The all female staff immediately made me feel at home. My boss, a former school teacher, understood my work ethic and knew I was more than capable of the job at hand. Working with the clients, getting to know my coworkers that winter/spring was a joy. While it barely paid what was needed to supplement my TRS pay, I was happy to be working there. However, by the time tax season was closing, it appeared that the job would not be needed next season. Client involvement dropped significantly causing my position to disappear the next tax season and I was out of the perfect job.
Back to the job drawing board and I grew depressed by the bills piling up. Also, disheartening has been the lack of vacations we can take and the amount of general home improvements needed to our home. The summer and winter testing for GT students has helped my income along with a two month long term sub job last fall. However, as I pursued job possibilities, it became apparent to me that I was never going to get enough money to supplemental my TRS pay. Teachers may not make the salary of a good doctor or lawyer, but they sure make better than minimum wage.
Last February, the same friend who suggested that I work for the tax office, called me again. This time she wanted me to help her daughter with their family self storage business. There had been health problems in their family and the business ledgers were in need of updating. I was hired to work part time at minimum wage to help bring their bookkeeping up do to date. Making just enough money to buy weekly groceries, I was able to accomplish the immediate need in a couple of months. Initially a temporary position, I have now been working 8 months with the self storage business. The hours are great and my boss is very flexible about time off. The bad news is at only $8.00 an hour, the pay is not near enough for our needs and my friend is not in the position to pay more. Though the job is better than no job, and I certainly appreciate friends who look out for my job needs; I must once again search for permanent employment. My maturity as a responsible employee should aide the search, but not if an opportunity to interview doesn't come along.
It's my feeling that I'm going about this job hunt all wrong, but to tell the truth, I wish so much that I didn't need to work. My best days are the ones in which I don't have to show up at a job. My job of balancing out the books with the storage business has been pretty good. My favorite, the tax office job, was the best but unfortunately, played out. Teaching interns about being a school teacher allowed my professional experience and opinions to be put to the test. It made me feel like my 30 years had been for the purpose of sharing the fruits of my labor with others and I liked that feeling. Unfortunately, a change in department directors, in addition to budget cuts, caused this to be a less than perfect position for me. The GT testing for the school district is a very nice gig with good pay. I look forward to the self motivated work with the students. Unfortunately, it is a seasonal short-term job and can't supplement TRS enough to make a difference.
The daily prayer for my days is that God will lead me to His plan. That is, His perfect plan, for my husband and I with what we are supposed to be about. God, as Lord of all, knows where the perfect job is for me. The job is out there somewhere waiting for me to find it. Job hunting at this stage of life is a pain! I am praying that the next job will be satisfying and one that fixes our budget woes that will provide year-round income until my next retirement.
Part-time at $20.00 an hour would be great. I'm just saying!
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