Thoughtful Thursday: The End

Today is travel day again. I am going to an airport that I have only been in once before - a VERY long time ago - and will be cooped up in a plane for about seven hours in total. Once I get home, I have to remember which parking structure is mine, scrape off snow and ice, and then drive for an hour to get to my house. It's going to be a very long day.

Yesterday, Mom and I had a quiet day. We only left the house to send my boxes back to my residence. That's it. No shopping, no food, just being at home. Mom made grilled cheese for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. Sister and Mom went shopping after dinner, and I just remained where I was. When I am on vacation, I need these types of days - the very quiet ones - to help me find my rest.

Tomorrow is set to be a lazy day. I have a meeting with my financial advisor and that's about it. I will do some unpacking and some cleaning and then just rest for a couple of days before heading back to work for the long stretch between spring break and the end of the school year. Our 12-hour days are over which is nice, and we have about a week between the end of the year and the beginning of our summer session. That is nice as well - something to look forward to in two months.

Today, though, is the end of my break. It is the end of my time with family members. It is the beginning of heading back to the world I have created for myself rather than being part of the world that my parents created for us. It is wonderful to visit my family, but it is also wonderful to be in my space and schedule. I strive to remember that particular fact when I am sad about leaving...

Mom is going to drop me at the airport curb later this morning. I will head into our local airport and go through security. They will need to check the back of my neck and my right ankle - they always have to check those areas on me, for some reason. I will remember to wear socks on my trip through security. I will settle into the gate area and get ready to jet off to a different part of the world. For some reason, I cannot fly directly from here to there, so I get to experience different airports. I have about three hours between flights, so I will have some time to explore. I want to get a magnet to take home. I believe I will be heading through the same airport in July, so it will be nice to get to know a bit about it this time around. The flights are full, so I have some hope that I will be able to check my big bag at the gate. We will see. I will be a bit more coordinated in this security line than I was in the last one. I will find some good food and be nice to people wherever I go. If I get frustrated, I will remember my coping skills and not take things out on other people because I know that the people who stand there are not responsible for my emotional state or how I navigate it. I am a grown up, and I will act like it. I will get to my car (can't remember the number where I parked, but I hope to recognize it...), scrape off the snow, and then go slowly to my home. We are supposed to have a winter storm in my area today, so there may be some slick spots, or there may not be anything - that's the way winter storms happen in March. I have been told to text my sister when I get home, so I will do that, and I will send my mother an email as well. The cat will just have to hear things secondhand.

The hardest part of being home is leaving, but it is something that I have to do, so I get it done. I hear that vacations are only fun because we don't do them all the time. If we did, they wouldn't be as fun. As someone who is close to retiring from her school job, I can tell you that the pull of retirement from the school system is alluring and has the same appeal as vacation does. I figure that 30 years of working in my setting is enough for me. I will continue to do music therapy and will continue to work somewhere after I leave the school world, but I am not going to work with the same population - my body can barely handle them now. I wonder what it is like to work with preschoolers...hmmm. Anyway, I am getting myself ready for the world of pensions and part-time work or lots of side hustles to keep myself in a manner to which I am accustomed.

When I think of retirement, I think of moving back here to California. I still identify as a Californian, even though I have lived in Kansas longer than I have lived anyplace else. I love it here. There are all sorts of things to do, lots of places to go, and lots of people. It has an energy that is very different from the Kansas energy. I don't think I will be able to afford to live in California after I retire, so I will need to work until the US government sends me the additional income that I have banked over my years of working. That will be an additional 16 years of working somewhere. I am hoping that the demand of music therapy will still be as strong then as it is now. I could be someone's music therapy employee. I would enjoy that role. I am also planning on continuing to write about music therapy, mentoring music therapists, and doing more of the crafting things that I love to do. I am hoping to travel more than I do at the moment, but I also want to be able to have a home that I love. The first step into this life is coming in about four years...

For now, though, I am going to get dressed, head into Mom's computer/quilting room, and spend some time in idle chit-chat. See you tomorrow.

Happy Thursday.