It’s been awhile since I’ve been behind a public school teacher’s desk—nine years ago today, to be exact—and yet I’m still fairly frequently asked if I “miss” teaching.
Granted, teaching minor children consumed 30 consecutive years of my life, but I’ve been “no longer in the institution” for nearly a decade. And I continue to teach workshops and so forth, so it’s not like I took the teacher hat off and threw it away.
But I suppose “we are what we do” comes into play here as the predominant mindset. I mean, if I’m not a “teacher,” then who am I?
That was the $64,000 question I actively sought the answer to nine years ago—and I’m still looking for concrete clues.
Thus far, it looks like “writer” is winning out, with active subsets including playwright, poet, mystery novelist, anecdotal humorist, columnist, blogger, song lyricist, and prolific Chicken Soup for the Soul contributor.
And I’m comfortable with that. “Writer” is a good fit for me, especially since my eyesight ruled out “astronaut,” my intelligence ruled out “politician,” and my fear of plummeting small planes eliminated “bush pilot.”
But who will I be tomorrow? I’ll just have to wait and see… Pulitzer Prize Winner has kind of a nice ring to it, don’ you think?
