: It’s Who You Know Finding another position seemed like a huge challenge. I sent out resumes, followed up with phone …
: A Fresh Start and a Quick Finish Networking found me another teaching position in a private elementary school in the same city. This …
: The Catalyst It was a conversation I still remember more than forty years later. The principal stopped me mid …
: Glorious Beginnings In my small private school, I had lots of freedom to teach creatively as I developed a series of new …
: Out of the Blue Once school ended and I was back home, my job search fizzled. Living rent-free with my parents, …
: Job Search Since there were few hiring prospects in the public system, I decided to target private schools. …
: Humility My first teaching placement was humbling. Any illusions that I had of being innately gifted at …
: Fortified Resolve No matter how logical our plans may be, life can easily thwart them. I was not immediately accepted …
: Laying Foundations With an eye to teaching, I chose college courses which would give me a broad background knowledge in …
: Loneliness Once the busy days of settling in were behind me, the patterns of routine began to form. Newness …
: Creeping Onwards I chose the same university as my sister. Not a surprise to anyone, I’m sure. I was already familiar …
: A Gradual Launch When it came time to leave home and head to university, I was torn. On the one hand I was excited. …
: Accessing Allies There is definitely benefit in being part of a collective. I’m not talking about a visceral need to …
: Being Large Reading the title might give the impression that I’m talking about body mass. It’s true that over …
: Acting As If Here’s a piece of advice that changed my life: act as if. I don’t recall who told me this or when I …
: A Fresh Start High school opened its doors to kids from various feeder schools. It was a chance for a fresh start, …
: Bully Magnet I was a classic bully magnet: shy, uncertain and a tad inept. Soft spoken, conflict avoiding and …
: Not Rocket Science Gradually, I recognized what most already knew: if you want to do better at school, pay attention …
: Career Steps I had the usual gamut of occupations in mind as a kid: firefighter, police officer, veterinarian and …
: Type Cast I tried acting starting with roles in kids’ musicals and then moved on to more serious productions …
: Coddled and Shy As a kid, I was the kind every old lady adored. I was quiet, polite and could sit for hours without …
: Public Speaker One of my teachers suggested I get into public speaking because I would be good at it. I thought …
: Golden Voice I sang my first solo at a Christmas concert when I was in grade 9: the wise man who brought toddler …
: Community Choir What a great idea to join the community choir: new friends with a passion for singing and lots of …
: New Paths Doing the same job you retired from is like eating leftovers. Tasty at first, but then predictably …
: A Reprieve A call from my former employer gave me a short term reprieve from my transition in the form of a …
: Lost I remember my first post retirement project: binging Netflix’s Lost series …. 6 seasons and 121 …
: Difficult Transition I’m not saying a chance to reset and repurpose isn’t a good thing. For me, the transition was …
: Retirement Sucks Two words that I never thought would fit together: retirement and sucks. But it did. Some days, …