Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Retirement

The other day I was thinking about retirement. I'm eligible to retire in 11 years, but what complicates things is that Sera will only be about 14 and in 8th grade when that happens. My thought right now is to retire to my hometown in Michigan, at least while she's in high school. A couple of my friends from high school started in Mesick in middle school because their fathers were retired police officers from Detroit, and didn't want their kids going to high school in the big cities. Sera would face a similar situation, attending a high school with 3,500 students. It seems daunting to me, and I don't want her to get lost in the crowd. One of the things that my high school did for me was to give me the opportunity to excel and stand out. I could participate in every sport I wanted to, and if I had gone to a school the size of the one Sera would attend, I probably wouldn't even have made a single team. The competition is simply too fierce.

I love my little town, but it's hard enough for Magi to live so far from her family now. This move would be another four hours away, but my solution would be to fly when we want to travel. Since last summer I have subscribed to Traverse Magazine, and reading the new issue every month makes me miss home. I know my experiences in high school were special, and my daughter deserves no less an opportunity to shine.

1 comment:

Wendy said...

I know she would excel at whatever she chooses to pursue. A smaller school has so many more benefits than a larger one.... Just as long as it's not as small as Nutberry, I mean Newberry. My graduating class was all of 65. That's just a bit TOO small.