TOP REASON -- You won the lottery and have millions of dollars to spend while you can still get around and see everything worth seeing on the planet. You go, girl!

But if that didn't work out, here are some other reasons why I retired:

1. I have reached the eligibility factor (in my case the number was 85 -- 55 years of age and 30 years of service -- though I had to wait till I was 58 to reach it).

2. After 30 years in education, I was ready to play hooky.

3. The house was paid for and we had some savings in the bank.

4. I broke my leg and couldn't get around that huge high school building which involved a lot of stair climbing.

5. I realized when I nearly ran over the mailbox at the post office that my eyes weren't as good as they used to be when driving in the dark.

6. The print in textbooks got too small to read, and I was just reading Chaucer by memory to my students missing a word every now and then.

7. I picked up a paper to grade and I didn't see any words on it (student used a very hard pencil and a very light touch).

8. I was tired of cleaning up the lounge and making the coffee for everyone else.

9. My students would look at me and ask, "When are you going to retire, Mrs. Sallee?"

10. My doctor told me to get out of there while I could still walk and see the road to get home.

And I still felt guilty about not showing up every day.