Slice of Lucy: Confirmation Email


Confirmation Email

Lucy Yeager
March 4, 2026

At 4 p.m., the email popped into my mailbox. At the time, I was working with a student after school, but I was attuned to the slight vibration of my phone. I'd been expecting it, been led to believe I would receive it. I discreetly verified it was what I thought and hoped it was, then turned my focus back to my student.

This evening, I realize I am happy and grateful to have some small sense of security in this chaotic world, to be able to provide for my family for the foreseeable future.

I am humbled. Some colleagues did not receive the same type of cover letter or any attachment at all. 

I am hopeful about the students I will teach and the growing we will do together in the year to come.

I am proud that I still have something to offer and a place to contribute.

I am also excited (and terrified) to think of what might be next because I have decided I will only sign two more contracts after this one. In May 2029, I will see my son graduated and end my teaching career. I've been a middle school teacher for twenty-six years. Based on the sage advice and example of my mentor who retired before anyone wanted her to, I will stop teaching before I am the teacher everyone wishes would retire.

Quite honestly, I am relieved. I first started mulling over this decision a year ago. When I opened the email and saw the contract today, my decision to retire in three years felt sound. I am confident, fulfilled, and successful as a teacher today and for the next few years, but by May 2029, I believe I truly will be ready to sashay out the door to my next career.

I remember when I signed my first teaching contract in 2000; that was the right choice, too.

Comments

  1. ChristinaMarch 4, 2026 at 9:04 PM

    I got pulled into your piece and wondered what the email was. I am glad you have peace with your decision. My husband keeps bugging me to decide on a retirement year and I keep putting him off. Your line, "I will stop teaching before I am the teacher everyone wishes would retire," defiantly made me pause and consider maybe it is also time to make a decision too.

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