This blog is written by Lee Gale Gruen to help retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors reinvent themselves in this new stage of their lives called retirement. Her blog, public lecture, and new self-help book on senior reinvention are titled: Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire. Her memoir is: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class. Books descriptions follow her blog below. Both books are available at Amazon.com by clicking here and here. Her website is: LeeGaleGruen.com
Now, on to my blog:
I wanted to attend an event hundreds of miles from my home. When I told my son that I planned to fly there, he freaked out.
“Mom, the planes have circulating air, so they’re not too bad. But, the airport can be a Covid superspreader!”
Somehow, he seemed okay with my driving, so that’s what I decided to do so as not to add further stress to his life. I was a little intimidated about making the trip by myself until I changed my mindset. Instead of thinking about it as a long excursion of hundreds of miles, I approached it as a bunch of short commutes. I would stop frequently to rest, walk around, and eat. Along the way, I would visit lots of family members and friends, staying a few days with each to break up my journey. With my new way of approaching the whole endeaver, it turned out to be a cinch.
It was a pleasant drive on a long straight highway. I enjoyed California’s agricultural heartland as I cruised along. The highway seemed to contain more giant trucks than cars. Those big rigs just kept coming, many of their cabs painted in spiffy colors presumably reflecting their drivers’ vibes. Do those bright tones perk up the long-haulers and help them stay alert as they wrangle their transports for thousands of miles? I enjoyed sharing my road with them as they carried fruits and vegetables from the surrounding land or cargo containers recently off-loaded from the ships moored in the ports of San Francisco and Oakland, all to quench our citizens’ appetites of various types. (I’ve written on this topic before in this forum after a similar trip six years ago. Click here and scroll down to read my blog of August 9, 2016, “Driving to My New Life.”)
I whizzed by growing produce. The farmers in the area had erected signs to inform passing motorists of their views about the government’s control over the water they need for their livelihood. A great engineering feat is responsible for that.
I paralleled and crisscrossed the remarkable California Aqueduct through various phases of my journey. It has brought the life-saving liquid to this parched land, allowing it to grow thirsty trees and crops. It’s impressive, and it’s also very political as to how that water is allocated.
The whole show was presided over by enormous electrical towers spaced regularly and stretching for miles. Just as the aqueduct carries the precious water throughout my state, those towers carry the precious electricity that we humans have come to depend on.
I sailed past patches of wild mustard, their perky yellow screaming for attention wherever they grew. As I continued, I also saw mining operations. I observed cattle grazing on hillsides and crowded together in fattening yards. I came upon construction equipment building infrastructure and new houses in recently leveled land developments. All are enterprises to keep our life as we know it going.
When I arrived at Pyramid Lake, I pulled over to rest and eat a sack lunch. People in other cars were doing the same.
After two wonderful weeks, my journey was almost over. I was sad to see it end but anxious to go home. One of the highlights of travel is the anticipation of both the departure and the return.
I’m proud of myself for my accomplishment. I did it and feel more emboldened. It’s a great sensation to conquer something that seems hard.
If an undertaking appears daunting to you, spin it into something doable. Breaking it into baby steps from a huge whole can help. It’s only a matter of interpretation.
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SYNOPSES OF BOOKS BY: LEE GALE GRUEN
Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire (self-help): Not a one-size-fits-all approach, this self-help book for retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors offers an individualized, detailed guide to assist readers in discovering activities and pursuits in this new stage of their lives called retirement, based on their own likes and comfort level. I learned the secret the hard way transitioning from retired probation officer to actress, author, public speaker, and blogger. Audience members at my lectures on senior reinvention requested a book on the subject. This is the result, and it contains the content of those talks and six years of posts from this blog. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.
Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class (memoir): After retiring at age 60 from my 37-year career as a probation officer, I mistakenly enrolled in an acting class for seniors. A few weeks later, my mother died, and I invited my grieving, 85-year-old father to come to class with me. This is the true story of our magical journey attending that class together for three years, bonding more than ever. I wrote the comedy scenes we performed onstage twice a year in the acting class showcases, and all six scenes are included in the book. I eventually transitioned into the world of professional acting. As my fledgling, second career started going uphill, my dad’s health started going downhill. I would recount to him each of my new experiences while I sat beside his bed at the nursing home where he resided in his final years. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.
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