Just now I submitted the final grades for my ENGL 2126 Introduction to Creative Writing class, Fall semester 2022. It's the last time I will be doing this. As of now, I am leaving the adjunct teaching behind and focusing on my new adventures going forward.
I half expected to feel some sense of the bittersweet, winding up 10+ years of teaching. But honestly, it was time, and I've had not one whiff of regret or any second thoughts. Since my last day standing up in front of a class last week, I've been full-speed ahead with exciting projects, including helping manage an exhibit at the Charlotte Art League in March, as well as doing new work in my studio for my own show, which will also be at CAL in March. And, I'm getting my head ready for a one-week residency at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities in January, where I will polish up the next chapbook and send it off into the world.
However old I'm supposed to be, I'm feeling about 49 these days. I'm also sleeping well.