| Since then:
Forty years! Can it really be that long ago that we left ASIJ?
I stayed in Japan for a couple of years, attending Sophia University, and then transferred to a small Christian college in Tennessee where I graduated in 1965. I returned home to Columbus, Ohio in May, my mother died of cancer in June, and I began a thirty-year teaching career in Columbus Public Schools in September. I taught third grade for five years, and then resigned when our son was born in 1970. I was a stay-at-home mom for six years, and then took classes at Ohio State University to teach learning-disabled students. I taught nearly every grade through the years and spent the past 16 years working with high school LD students, which were my favorite.
I retired this past June, so I'm not experiencing the normal panic as school begins this fall. I am very much looking forward to having time to do all the things I've never had time to do; gardening, quilting, traveling, piano-playing, reading, teaching a weekly women's class and working part time as coordinator of Women's Ministry in the church I attend. I don't expect to be bored.
I was married for 27 years to the same man, who then went through mid-life crisis and left me. My son, Wayne, 31, is a bachelor, (I may never be a grandma!) and a police officer in a Columbus suburb. I'm still adjusting to being single, but I have discovered that there are worse things than not being married-like making a class reunion book! (just kidding).
Finding and renewing so many ASIJ friendships has been wonderfully exciting for me; I cherish each one!
|
