Like many of the projects that excite me but go on the back burner “for now”, my blog barely began before it was neglected. Initially, I thought that I had to wait for my son to design my website so I kept putting it off. Since his paid work comes first, I still don’t have the website despite his best intentions and generous heart. Then other things took my time and attention; life happened.
I’m still working, writing this on lunch break. It seems a good time to embrace my original plan. Things are changing. My fiancée has decided to retire next month. A number of things came together for him and he is ready. I’m very happy for him, that he is making this happen. Honestly, I’m envious, too. That’s probably not my best-self reacting but my humanity showing up. I’m getting past it but there was an initial phase I had to work through when I thought “Wait a minute….I’m older and was supposed to retire first!” We had talked about me retiring in 2019 while he continued working part time for another year. That plan needed to change and my thoughts and feelings along with it.
The end of March 2019 is the retirement date I’m aiming for, a little more than a year away. This seems a good time to blog, to prepare, to reflect, to explore. An acquaintance decided on her 50th birthday to try (at least) one new thing each month. This idea appeals to me. I plan to focus my choices within the framework of preparing to retire in the broadest sense.
My activity for January (and one Saturday morning a month through April) will be attending a gallery education class (the Dr. Dave Gallery Group) with two friends, at the nearby Toledo Museum of Art. We meet for the first session on 1/20/18. I’m excited! Learning in an art museum seems to be the perfect way of engaging both the left and right brain hemispheres in one activity.
I’ve read that as we age the two halves of our brains communicate more with one another than they do when we are young, perhaps helping to compensate for some negative effects of aging. Science Daily reported on 9/17/17 that a Duke University Dept. of Neurology study tested “some controversial ideas about how the brain reorganizes as we age.” Simon Davis, Ph.D., stated that the results suggest that “the aging brain maintains healthy cognitive function by increasing bilateral communication.”
I’m all for that! I want my brain to be as healthy and functional as possible now and during my “golden years”. If Dr. Dave’s class can help with that at the same time I’m having fun with friends and nurturing my soul by viewing beautiful creations, who could ask for anything more?