"Looking Good"

December means basketball tournament season at our house, and even though I'm retired, I'm assisting Jeff with his Cypress team, and this week we are in the Orange Optimist Tournament, being held, logically, in Westminster. This week also marks the 6-month anniversary of my official retirement.
Our first tournament game didn't go well, but I ran into a couple of old friends so the day wasn't a total loss. The first was Tom McCluskey, the coach at Trabuco Hills, and he was the reason the game didn't go well. Tom and I coached at the Tustin High School at the same time. He won a state championship with the boys in 1991, the same year my girls lost in double overtime in the quarterfinals to finish the year 25-4. As Tom and I were talking, he offered this statement: "You're looking good, you seem so relaxed." Before the next game, I spied Mark Lewis, who played for us at Tustin in 1981 when we reached the CIF finals--I was coaching boys then. Mark's son is playing at Laguna Beach High School, and we will play them tomorrow. Mark went on to play at Long Beach State, was City Engineer for Fountain Valley for awhile, and now lives and works in Laguna Beach. During the course of our conversation, he offered, "You're looking good, you seem so relaxed." That phrase is also repeated when I visit Foothill High School or the Tustin District office. So I joked to Jan that either I really am more relaxed, or that's just one of the things that's easy to say to old people. She said, "The last couple of years you taught, your brow was almost always creased." Wow, I didn't realize that, but if the change is so evident to so many people it must be true. I'm still getting used to being retired, still trying to master the idea that if I don't feel like doing anything, I don't have to (once I do master that idea, I'll be ready for my next career as a politician).
But was I really that miserable my last few years on the job? I started thinking of my facebook friends who are teachers, and some of their most recent posts. So many of them are counting the days until Christmas Vacation, rather than counting the days until Christmas. All of them are recognized as good teachers, and if you asked them, they would say there is no job they would rather have. Yet, for as much as they like their job, they seemingly cannot wait to not be doing it. My explanation for that feeling is this: With all of the outside input they receive on how to do their job, and the pressure to perform on standardize tests, much of the joy of the profession is neutralized. I have a friend who teaches at private school who said the last 2 days before vacation would be taken up with student parties. Such things are not allowed at public school--reminders are given before every date where there is danger of a party breaking out--and I really think the possibility of building relationships with kids, especially those in need of a significant adult role model, is sacrificed at the altar of testing. I know this is a recurring soapbox of mine, but being out of the profession for 6 months has not lessened the depth of my feeling on this subject.
So, what will the next 6 months hold? Well, the end of basketball season will be followed by tax season. Also--I'm going to occasionally substitute teach. I will be really interested to see if I really enjoy it, just being with kids, minus the pressure of performing. And, when I run into a former student on campus, I would much rather hear, "You're looking good, so relaxed," than, "Hey, Mr. Falk, I got Advanced on my Algebra 2 State Test."