Unburden’d Crawl Toward Death

’tis our fast intent

To shake all cares and business from our age,

Conferring them on younger strengths while we

Unburden’d crawl toward death.

(Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I. scene 1. lines 38-41)

Have any greater lines ever been written about retirement? OK, it didn’t work out very well for King Lear. I’m hoping that it will work out better for me. Like Lear, I have two daughters that I hope to spend more time with. I’m hoping they won’t turn me out into the storm, though I’ll be moving to a land of thunderstorms. Unlike Lear, I have a wife who is good company and a whole passel of grandchildren.

I have been serving as Interim President at the college where I have taught and administered for 9 years. Under the agreement I worked out with our Board of Trustees, once a permanent president is selected, I will be given a sabbatical that will take me to retirement age. That has now come to pass.

After going to work for nearly all my life, and over 40 years in the academic world, I won’t have to do that anymore. Don’t worry–I’ll still keep up the blog. In fact, I’ll have lots more time to devote to it. I also hope to be able to contribute more to the discussions that I provoke. I expect to do more writing. I’ve got some big speaking gigs coming up, including a speaking tour of Scandinavia. But right now, I look forward to a period of rejuvenation.

I know I’ll miss having students to teach, and I’ll miss talking about literature. But I haven’t done that as much as I would like anyway, having drifted into administration. And I know I’ll miss all of those involvements and the people I’ve worked with. But I’ve been sensing that it’s time for a change, and the opportunity has presented itself.

Instead of living in the outskirts of our nation’s capital, I’ll be returning to my roots in rural, small town Oklahoma. It feels like freedom.

“But he’s always writing about vocation!” some of you may be thinking. “Now he’s abandoning his vocation?” Well, I do think this next step in my life is in accord with God’s calling, which is never just to a “job” (as in the secular definition of vocation), but includes our call to our families, churches, and communities. It seems to me that those three are calling clearly right now.

I am open to any advice or admonition or warnings, as I enter this new phase of my life. Some of you are retired already, so I’d like to hear from you especially.