“Often when you think you’re
at the end of something,
you’re at the beginning
of something else.”
~ Fred Rogers
What’s next? That’s a great question. When I made the decision to retire from teaching in June 2015, I knew what I wanted to do in my retirement. I wanted to write and publish a book. In October 2017, I published A Moment’s Pause for Gratitude. It is a selection of fifty blog posts from my “Attitude of Gratitude” blog. For each post, I added a quote at the beginning and a few reflection questions at the end, questions which invite readers to reflect on gratitude in their own lives. After two years of promoting the book by giving talks on the topic of gratitude at schools, churches, libraries, and a few community organizations, I got off-track when I responded to a need at a San José school.
In November 2019, I found myself back in the classroom as a long-term substitute teacher for the sixth and seventh grade English Language Arts classes at St. Victor School. I had not anticipated returning to the classroom, but I felt called to respond to the critical need in the school at that time. It was a wonderful experience — so much so that I was invited to stay on for the 2020-2021 academic year. I did. It was in that second year that I met Vivian Nguyen, a sixth grade student with amazing artistic ability. I sent her a copy of a poem I’d written a year or so before for my grandson, Liam. I asked if she might be interested in illustrating it. Vivian was excited at the opportunity and produced 49 incredible images during the summer of 2021. Cherries in the Summer was published in late September. NBC Bay Area did a nice segment on the book and Vivian’s amazing skill.
I then got to work on a book I’ve been wanting to write for a long time. It’s a memoir which shares forty important life lessons I’ve learned and the experiences through which I learned those lessons. The Ambassador of 38th Avenue was published in April.
The obvious question for me now is… what’s next? In the quote above, Fred Rogers reminds us that when we are at the end of something, we’re at the beginning of something else. I agree… but what? At this point in time, I honestly don’t know.
Strangely, I’m quite content with not knowing. Throughout my lifetime, the most significant life experiences I’ve undertaken have all been preceded by periods of not knowing what I would do next. In every instance, I was pleasantly surprised by the opportunity which was presented to me. I have a gut feeling the same will be true for this period of not knowing.
I am so tremendously grateful for the opportunities which have been offered to me throughout my lifetime. Many of them were life-changing. All of them have been blessings. I may not know what’s next right now, but I’m eager to take on a new challenge.
