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December
She Sits
She sits at her table day after day smearing
colored water with an array of brushes and sponges
on clean white paper. She lets the abstracts and a
multitude of memories guide her strokes and swirls.
She has an assortment of both so she will never run
out of images. The skies are getting bluer, the
birds are soaring and diving, and the pets on the
ground are dodging the birds and the feet of
humans.
She also has a thick book of photos she copies
once in a while: friends and relatives; trips to
the Grand Canyon, Caribbean, Alaska and Mexico.
Magazines from the mail box have dozens of photos
she can recreate; pictures of the people and
homeless she has encountered just wheeling around
town. She wheels because she mostly sits because of
the bad legs she developed while a working lady
waiting tables in a large restaurant, a mother
chasing children, and a yard too big to let grow,
but she has enough get up and go to hang some of
her art pieces in a few coffee shops, and sells a
few and gets a little spending money.
Many seniors similar to her find the past
catching up with them while in or planning
withdrawal from work. There are many issues that
can and will dictate the direction one takes in the
retirement (non-working-mostly) years. Health, of
course is one of them; finances, geography,
relatives, friends, and transportation are some of
them. Many workers don’t consider these
issues until maybe too late. The important thing is
to quit work and do nothing, which is another
negative if it is not addressed – from an
eight-hour working bee to a twenty-four hour do
nothing bee can be a hard transition if not
planned. “You'll find boredom where there is
the absence of a good idea,” said Earl
Nightingale, the dean of Personal Development.
Everybody has their lists of ‘likes’
and ‘don’t likes’, and it is similar
to that list you make when you are going to go
shopping, so you won’t forget anything, the
same should be done here … don’t forget
anything. But remember, “The human animal
differs from the lesser primates in his passion for
lists,” said H. Allen Smith, MD, PhD, and I
guess he was saying to list is human.
I guess it all comes down to ‘to each
his/her own’. Every situation and person has
different dreams and wishes, therefore the roads to
the future can be straight, crooked, forked, paved,
or gravelly, or abstract and as mystifying as a
watercolor painting. The idea is to get on it with
a workable plan.
©2014, Patrick
Kennedy
* * *
Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.
- Nicolas Chamfort
Patrick
M. Kennedy (P Manvel Kennedy) has been a
professional writer, editor, and graphic artist for
over 30 years. He is the author of three books:
More
Fun with Retirement: A coffee break for
seniors,
How
to Have Fun with
Retirement, and
Being
a Senior Citizen: You rnew phase of life with
many questions looking for
answers. and his
latest book: More Fun with Retirement: A
coffee break for seniors. He currently works from
Boise, Idaho. In the past he has worked from
Seattle, Indianapolis, and Las Vegas. He keeps busy
because he knows it is important when writing or
editing any material with a particular objective in
mind, for either personal use or business goals, to
present ideas with quality, clarity and accuracy.
He can do that, and he does most of it himself, but
he occasionally must call upon qualified associates
for assistance.
"My Resume shows me as an
experienced professional writer and editor who
specializes in the English language. With years of
professional experience in the
writing/editing/graphics field, I offer quality
services to both individual and business clients,
with prompt and accurate solutions designed to meet
their needs, and online editing services and
writing services for easy and quick results.
www.abetterword.com
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