Simpatico

I started reading Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler. I picked up the book mainly because I love Anne Tyler. I really didn't pay attention to the theme of the story, but then here is the first page:

"In the sixty-first year of his life, Liam Pennywell lost his job. It wasn't such a good job, anyhow. He'd been teaching fifth grade in a second-rate private boys' school.---------
Things seemed to have taken a downward turn a long, long time ago, and perhaps it was just as well that he had seen the last of St. Dfrig's dusty, scuffed corridors and those interminable after-school meetings and the reams of niggling paperwork.
    In fact, this might be a sign. It could be just the nudge he needed to push him on to the next stage - the final stage, the summing up stage. The stage where he sat in his rocking chair and reflected on what it all meant, in the end."

Is this not simpatico? At least up until the line about sitting in the rocking chair.

I do think this is the stage to reflect and the stage of freedom; to move on to something one has always wanted to do, but mortgage and children and all the responsibilities therein kept one working solid.

I'll be anxious to read of Liam's path to freedom, as I create my own.