AnIdealPositionLifeisgood.MycareerinelementaryeducationinCanadaisnowjustafondmemory.IthinkbackonthemanyyearsofserviceandIrecallthemanyclassedItaught,thedifferentschoolsIworkedat,thecountlessstaffmeetingsIattendedandthemanycommitteesIservedon.IestimatethatthenumberoffacultymembersIworkedwithovertheyearsisinthehundredsandwelloverathousandstudentshavecalledmeteacher.IsitanywonderthatIcansaythatIalwaysfeltcomfortablewalkinginschoolcorridors?SometimesIworkedwithstudentsattheintermediatelevel.InCanada,studentsatthatlevelareyouthintheirpreteen（青春期前的）yearsaswellasteenagers.WhenIdecidedtoretire,Iknewthatthefirststepintheprocedurewastowritealettertomyemployer,aschoolboard,toresignmyposition.Ipostponedmailingtheletter.Iwasreluctanttoaddthepostagetotheletter,knowingthatonceImailedit,thedecisioncouldnotbereversed.BecauseIwasaveteranteacherofmanyyears,Iwouldbeeligibletoreceiveapension.Icalculatedthattherevenue（收入）Iwouldreceiveeachmonthwouldbesufficienttosustainmycurrentlifestyle.IfIwassmartaboutmyspendinghabits,Imightevenhaveasurplusofmoney.Icertainlywouldnotneedtopincheverypenny.Iknewthemoneywouldnotcometomeintheformofacheck.Instead,itwouldbedepositeddirectlyintomybankaccount.IcouldwithdrawcashfrommyinvestmentsifIneededtosupplementmyincome,mycreditratingwouldallowmetobeeligibleforaloanwhensomeunforeseen（预料不至U的）financialcrisisarose.Iknew,therefore,thattherewasnoreasontopanic,asmyfuturewassecureevenifinflationincreasedorarecessionoccurred.Ineithercasemyincomewouldonlybeminusafewdollars,afractionofthetotalamount.Idecidedtotaketheplunge,butwaitedanotherfortnightbeforeImailedtheletter.Ievenpausedbriefly（简短的，暂时的）withtheletterpartwayintothemailslot（投信口，狭缝）beforeIthrusttheletterintothemailbox.Iknewthatthesimpleactofmailingthatletterwouldaltermylife.Ilookedforcluestodeterminehowstrikingthechangesinmydailylifewouldbe.HowwouldIspendmytime?InspiteofhavingmanylongyearlyvacationswhenIcouldpursueotherinterests，Ihadnotbotheredtomakeanearnestefforttoconfine...
