As of June 30th, 2025, after 37 years teaching high school at the same institution, I retired from Georgetown Day School. When I began in the classroom, the Berlin Wall still divided that city, there were no cell phones or laptops, and Bowers v Hardwick (in which the Supreme Court allowed states to criminalize homosexual acts) was the law of the land. At the time of my retirement, a single Germany is looked on as a savior of Europe, personal electronics rule, and same-sex marriage is general and happily celebrated throughout the United States.

It is not surprising that the world vastly changed since I began teaching. The question for me now, one so many of you have already answered, is: "How will my world change as a result of my work ending?"

Why did I retire? I recall that my dad, who grew up the poor child of immigrants from Eastern Europe and started working full-time after he graduated from high school, retired relatively young and wished the same for me. As much as I liked teaching and my students, the profession and the school were not what they were when I started. In particular, there's artificial intelligence. Need I say more?

On the other hand, there were reasons to stay. I am sure you have all heard similar advice to that repeated to me by a colleague whose dad practiced medicine into his upper 80s. "Keep working," dad always warned him. "Retirement in the kiss of death." (In spite of the advice, that colleague recently retired at 70.) I liked my job, my colleagues, the kids, and my subject matter. In the last few years, I had taught upper level US History and a course in Constitutional Law I had developed over the decades. I felt a new level of urgency in teaching the events and truths of these subjects as they had come under significant attack by a man who managed to regain power in this country.

But I chose to leave.

"What will you do now?" I am asked. I am sure many of you faced that.. And you each answered it in many ways. Sure, I hope to travel more. I want to spend more time with my wife. (No grandkids yet, and probably not for a while.) There are hobbies: reading, woodworking. DIY stuff in the house presents itself. And maybe I will take up teaching again in some other form (or be a student); OLLI at American University is a very popular option.

I am neither worried nor regretful. I actually think that staying at the same task as you age can also be a sign of giving in, of running away. The French (perhaps?) call retirement a "second life." So, it is time to take that up. I'm just in no rush to decide.

But some demand a plan... So, I have come up with a response, one so off-putting, so hard to challenge, so… well, strange and unexpected, I figure it will leave no room for follow-up questions. When asked about my future, I puff myself up, put on a big smile, and announce, loud and clear: "Beekeeping!"

This is part of an occasional series of Weekly Update articles by NNV Board Members on topics of interest. Richard Avidon joined the NNV board in 2020. First trained as an attorney, he left the practice of law after two years, looking for something more satisfying, which he found at GDS. Click here to read more about Richard and all of our other Board Members.

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