"In the months approaching his retirement, writing instructor Carl Klaus felt increasing anxiety about what lay ahead. "Given such an unsettling state of mind, I decided to start keeping a diary, a diary that might help me work my way through the anguish and anxiety, through the bitter-sweet feelings, so that I could genuinely take retirement rather than feel as if it were taking me unawares.""--BOOK JACKET. "The result is this original and intimate account of a subject rarely explored in literary writing. With quiet courage, Klaus embarks upon the emotional work of retiring from a lifetime of teaching - a difficult task for someone whose sense of self is so strongly tied to his role as a mentor. Taking Retirement offers many charms: the lively give-and-take between Klaus and his witty wife, Kate; stories of how colleagues, neighbors, and relatives are handling retirement; and his chronicle of a revelatory trip to the Canadian and American Rockies."--BOOK JACKET.