The week has finally arrived, and I am ready.

All this school year, I have looked with extreme anticipation toward the last week in May, first part of June. I have relished retirement at this age, and at this stage of my life.

I will have my first official day of "retirement" on Friday of this week, and it is already Tuesday. That means I only have three more days of schedule that is beyond my control, and that makes me very happy.

The only part of retirement that is a bit scary is a bit that I talk with my students about all the time.

Intrinsic motivation.

What that means for me is to create a personal schedule that includes all of the things that are of particular importance to me.

Some, but not all, of those things?

• My parents, who are aging (quite well, fortunately) beyond the age of 80 this year. They need more of my personal attention.

• My grandchildren, who are growing up - they take so much time and energy and in return give boundless love and inspiration.

• My husband, whom I treasure. We need to spend some time together doing all of the things that we love, like travel and exploration. (Thank goodness we like a lot of the same things.)

• My home studio, which I will re-establish after years of running my own educational studios.

• My writing, which I have vowed to do daily. Not only in blog format, but also in writing for children.

• My art, which is one of the main reasons that retirement seems so incredibly exciting.

• My reading, which has been waiting in multiple bookshelves for me to catch up to it for years!

• My home, which has lots of projects waiting for me to do, always.

• My work goals, doing a bit of freelancing in design which is always out there for me.

• My future garden, where I hope to grow things all spring, summer and fall.

• My photography, which has been sorely neglected. So much to do, and a new camera system to purchase!

• My dogs, who will be so happy to have someone home with them all day long! Other dogs will benefit from my desire to do some volunteer work with an animal rescue organization.

• My community, because of my hope that I can do volunteer work with an organization that helps people get food, such as Meals on Wheels.

• My health, because I would like to work on getting my personal health goals met daily. Preparing more healthy meals at home, plus spending more time walking, biking, working out. These are personal health goals that are a must and should have been elevated much higher on my list, and that is what the problem has been.

As it is plain to see, it is not in my plan to be bored or to go to my house and become a hermit never be seen again. It isn't even outside the scope of possibility for me to work sometime again in the future if my personal goals have been satisfied.

I have so many productive and happy years ahead, if God grants me that - I know that I can continue to do things that are important and will be satisfying to me and I hope to everyone that comes into contact with me.

I am lucky that I have been blessed with an experience of great students for the last few days of a teaching career that I have truly treasured. I am sure that there are more experiences with young people in my future, but I feel that it will be in a new capacity somehow. Time will tell, but I am so proud of the work that these people the past 20 years have proven that they are capable of doing. I am still amazed by them and by their own trajectories, and I am always happy to have been a part of their growth. Now as many of them are parents themselves and doing things their own way, I marvel at their resourcefulness and their genuine confidence. I am very happy with what I see in the rearview mirror.