So says Al Pacino in The Godfather III.

I know the feeling, but I’m not complaining.

I’m going to be deliberately vague here and not names names of institutions or individuals. Partly for privacy/security reasons, but also because contracts haven’t been signed yet.

I left academia last year to buy some property from my parents to keep land in the family. That required a move that made staying where I was nonworkable. Since then, I’ve been delivering mail in the morning and bodies in the afternoon. (US Postal Service/funeral home).

A few weeks ago, I got a call from a former graduate school classmate. He’s the program head at a medium sized university not close but not too far from here.

He needed someone to fill a one year visiting faculty position. Would I be interested?

Yes, if I could teach afternoons and evenings and still work at the post office. I didn’t want to give up a permanent job, even a part-time one, for a one year appointment with no guarantee of extension. (The position could possibly be extended or converted to a permanent position, but he couldn’t guarantee it.)

I was a little surprised when he agreed to those terms. He fixed the schedule where I would have time to drive from the post office (It’s not in the town where I live) and still have plenty of time if I had to stay late at the post office.

I got an letter of offer today. Transcripts are in limbo. They have supposedly been sent, but they are most likely at HR. The department hasn’t gotten them yet.

Class start on August 22. I’m not sure what that will do to the writing. I’ll address those issues in a later post.