Musings from Mary Ellen

Happy New Year!

By the time you read this newsletter, 2026 will have begun and will be bringing us into warmer weather in a few months. The poet, Tennyson, is hopeful, when he describes the happy bells replacing the old, false, ones from the previous year. He looks forward to the “new” and the “true”, yet he was also grieving his best friend’s untimely death. In memory of him, Tennyson writes a beautiful poem about hope in the future, a new year.

We need to recharge and renew in 2026. Just as we used to start a new year every fall when we taught new students, we have a similar opportunity to begin again in our retired years. Renew old relationships, volunteer and meet new people, become active in GBRTA and ARTC to feel a part of a wonderful group of retired teachers, who have so much in common with you. Plan on attending the April luncheon to hear a young Connecticut teacher/librarian talk about her recently published novel. Plan to attend the memorial luncheon in June to remember our colleagues who have passed recently. Remembering good friends and rejuvenating ourselves with new ones will fill 2026 with hope and happiness.

I will see you in April. Introduce yourself, if we haven’t met yet. I would love to find new friends through our shared pasts.

Mary Ellen

Ring Out, Wild Bells by Alfred Lord Tennyson

(Second stanza)

Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.