John's Retirement

Last night the staff at John's school invited us to a retirement celebration at Uno's Pizza at exit 5 in Plymouth (right down the street from PCIS). Matt and Jeremy came, many of John's friends from PCIS, and quite a few teachers who are retired now or who moved. Jason Hart drove down from Maine, and John's former student, Andrew Hill, who's an English teacher in Randolph, stopped by. The event was organized by John's former teaching partner and present PCIS housemaster, Mary Madden. The PCIS band director retired also, and he was there with his wife and a group of friends also. We all had a few drinks and a lot of fun.

Sandy Runnell's singing goodbye to John to the

tune of Irish Eyes are Smiling.

The cake with John's photo.

John read a farewell poem that he wrote for the occasion.

Here's John's teaching partner for many years, Scott, giving John a couple of gifts.

Here's a blurry image of John's principal, Lyman Goding, giving his long winded speech

about John (in tan sweater) and the band director Paul Howard. He talked about John's

media battle with John Silber and, of course, gave him copious praise.

We walked away from the evening with piles of gifts. It was a very special time!

Chicago!

Madeline and Dennis posed for us just before we left for the airport at the end of our visit.

We had a terrific time! Read on for more highlights!

John and I arrived at Chicago airport by bus from Madison, WI where we me John's new colleagues from Knowledge Unlimited, Inc, publishers of NewsCurrents. Dennis picked us up soon after our arrival, and we drove to Western Springs. What a beautiful suburb! And Dennis and Madeline are a short amble from the train station.

After a great Mexican meal on our first full day, Madeline and Dennis took us on a tour of Oak Park, Frank Lloyd Wright's stomping ground. The next day Dennis took us on a tour of Chicago. We met Maggie for lunch. Madeline's meals were scrumptious!

On our last morning, we met Madeline's horse.

Happy New Year!

The new year, 2009, has so much potential!

• Jeremy's flying to Botswana in a couple of days, and he'll have lots of great experiences there. Can't wait to read his blog!
• John's planning to retire in June. So many possibilities there!
• Matthew has the future in his hands, and I can't wait to see which roads he'll choose.
• School's exciting because I'm learning all the time.
• I'm looking forward to our trip to St. Pete in February.
• Lots of authors will visit Sandwich in the next couple of months. I'll meet Geraldine Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and Allen Say, a Caldecott Award winner along with several others. Wow!