Last Thursday, after 9+ years, I spent my last teaching day at Eastern Arizona College. I wish all the best to the new professor who will be taking on the work of two. Change is never easy.

What’s next for me? I don’t know. While I wait to find out, I will celebrate the holidays and New Year with family and friends, stay in touch with you all through PA and social media, and keep composing and adding material to my Fistful of Notes Store.

Friends, colleagues, and students have asked me how I feel about leaving. I have to believe that I accomplished whatever I was placed there to do. Upon hearing me say this, one of my adult students cried, “No, no you were not finished yet.”

Yet here I am, out the door and finished indeed. I may not ever be shown the reason(s) why I was placed in that particular community of students and I am OK with that. We, as teachers, really never know when, or if, our work with a student will take root and flower. I’ve written about this before. I do know that my purpose there did not necessarily have anything to do with my students’ technical prowess or repertoire levels.

I am grateful for my EAC colleagues and students plus the community teachers of the Gila Valley. I learned so much from all of you.

 

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