On Retirement

Retirement is wonderful! I recommend for everybody. I abruptly retired from a stressful job as a speech-language pathologist in public schools because we were ordered to return to in-person schooling when vaccines weren’t available. I was 62 years old at the time and had asthma. Although I planned to work until 65 years of age, it seemed silly to risk death just as I was reaching retirement age. I had no idea of what I would do next.

At first I just enjoyed laying in bed, sometimes until noon, idly reading and journaling in a notebook. Then I realized I wanted to learn how to write better. I enrolled in a Masters program for Creative Writing at Towson University. It was fabulous! Not only did I improve my writing, but I found a community of writers. I was intellectually stimulated and met new friends. Many of them are younger than me with different perspectives and wisdom.

After graduating I continue to write poetry and short stories. I’m a journalist for the Peninsula Post, a local newspaper. I also draw cartoons, paint, and play guitar. It is amazing to have tons of time to create and socialize. I have energy for exercising and cooking healthy meals. Along with the time when I was raising my sons, retirement is the best period of my life.

Spring Rapture

I wander around my community appreciating all the personal touches my neighbors have done to their houses. Forsythia and crocuses are in bloom in pots outside the row houses. Tulips are making their large-leaf appearances. Daffodils abound.

This afternoon I talked with an environmental activist involved in a community garden, neighborhood events in Fort McHenry, a national park up the street. It is wonderful to find good people making the world a better place. I feel blessed.

Writing and Awareness

As I work on the craft of writing, I find myself observing people more closely. Here’s one sketch based on a gesture that happened within two seconds.

Watercolors Whirling

Lately I’ve gotten back into watercolor painting. The tree paintings were inspired by a photograph by my friend Sooyong Kim. I found a caterpillar pencil sketch from summer and decided to color it. The abstract came from testing colors on a scrape piece of paper but I really like it!

my favorite models: my cat and the neighborhood squirrels

dreams and old clothes

Made a flag by sewing the legs of old martial arts uniforms. Here’s both sides.

Community and Creative Process

I have lived in artistic communities since early adulthood. I love the energy, feel it even when I am alone in my room. There is affirmation of the value of creating within an art community. There is knowledge that process is important. The energy in a community where people participate in the creative process helps generate ideas, even as we disagree about the relative value of specific pieces or particular forms of art.
Art for me has been a means of keeping an even keel in a crazy world.
Often when I create, whether a poem, a painting or a song, I don’t fully understand the symbols and juxtapositions of ideas until much later. Art is not a way to recreate reality, but distorts reality in order to fully portray it, like a curved glass will focus the sun’s rays on a single point, and result in a fire.