“I just moved to Chicago two years ago. I used to live in the suburbs called Hinsdale, just fifteen miles from here. And during the winter months, I live in Naples, Florida. I just arrived back from the cold weather last week, so now I’m enjoying the warmer weather.
I’m a retired school teacher – physical education for high school. I actually wanted to be a veterinarian, but it was harder to get into, so I switched to kids. Thirty-six years. The fact is, that was the school that I went to when I was in high school. So it was a small world. It’s amazing that some of the teachers were there when I was a student. I had a hard time calling them by their first names.
The relationship between teachers and students has changed so much. They’re more open than they were before. You’d think teachers would be back in the closet after school – you never saw them anywhere. It can be good or bad, but I enjoyed it. Especially in Illinois, people are required to take PE for four years, so you get some kids who don’t want anything to do with it. But our school program, the kids actually got to choose what they wanted to take. And I taught aerobics and swimming. So there was people in there who wanted to be there – so that helped a little bit. But the freshmen don’t have a choice. And you could tell there’s a lot of things they didn’t like to do, like running or swimming.
I still [exercise]. I work out down the street three times a week. I golf, I play tennis, I ride my bike. I just walked down here – took me 45 minutes to get here. I used to do triathlons. I hurt both shoulders – I tore both shoulders – and my knees are a mess. The only thing is walking and tennis, I’ve been told. Every now and then I’ll try running – I miss it. So that’s why I do a lot more bike riding. In high school and college, I used to do the half mile and the high jump. Weird combination, but it worked.
I had two older brothers, so that sort of pushed it, keep up with them. My dad was into golf. I was living in a neighborhood which was all boys, so it was either play with them or be bored. That’s why I picked up tennis. Because the tennis courts was just down the street from my house. I cannot sit still for more than an hour and a half. Even for me to read, I was about to go for a walk when you showed up! I can’t sit still. If it’s a nice day outside, I got to be outside. That’s one thing I liked about my job that I had – I was outside all the time. I would never do well in an office job at all. Getting paid to workout too!”
Excerpt may be edited for clarity.