Eschatology—it’s a theologian’s word meaning “last things.” Eschatologists study the events surrounding the end of the world.

Preretirement has its eschatology, its list of last things.

Just this week I took a class to the Writers Corner for the last time, I taught peer review of essays for the last time, and I filled in census forms for my last classes for the last time.

Some of these activities came with a sigh of relief—I won’t miss the paperwork—but others were bittersweet. I’ll miss the Writers Corner tutors.

It helps that I’ve done this before. Retired from one career in my 30s and another in my 40s. So I know there are more than “lasts” in my future; there, also, are “firsts.”

Like the first Monday I’ll sleep past 5:15 a.m. Or the first trip I’ll be able to make in the fall. And I’m looking forward to the first day I put aside my Day-Timer and let events unfold spontaneously, the way they did in childhood.

Finally, I’m encouraged by the things that won’t change after May 31—family, friends, and chatting with you in these blogs.