first name: Jane

age: 75 (yikes!)

current city: Raleigh, NC

living situation: I live in a small (one bedroom) apartment with my spouse who is serving a  Presbyterian Church as an interim pastor. He retired in 1998 and immediately began a new career in ministry – serving churches in transition. This assignment is his ninth interim pastorate. We maintain a permanent home in Canyon Lake, TX, but have spent very little time there in the past twelve years.

occupation: writer; retired teacher

how do you structure your time and space? I enjoy participating with my spouse in a variety of church activities, often teaching adult study courses with him and presenting programs to various groups. We have both served as retreat leaders. However, I structure my time to allow at least four hours daily to write or participate in writer-related activities. I attend book groups, poetry readings and do a lot of individual reading and studying.

I grocery shop, clean the apartment, do laundry and errands on one or two afternoons – usually Thursday since our local grocery offers a 5% discount to senior citizens on Thursday and I am definitely of Scots heritage. I volunteer at a transitional house one afternoon a week and sit with an elderly mother of one of the church members on Monday nights while her daughter attends a Bible Study. I try to structure my time so that I am free when my spouse has time off (Fridays). Fortunately, we enjoy each other’s company. I walk about four miles every day, usually in mid-afternoon.

Our marriage began in the 1950s when few women worked outside the home. Therefore, we got into the habit of my doing the majority of housework. After our five children were of school age, I began teaching and we tried to break that habit and share more home responsibilities. We have not been so successful. Daily household chores (cooking, et cetera) are mostly up to me!

using the metaphor of seasons to describe the phases of women’s lives,

-what are the particular challenges and highlights of your current season? Since I am not a hermit and am energized by people, I have had a difficult time during our frequent transitions during the last twelve years settling into a routine and sticking to it. Invitations from hospitable people are welcomed and I do not want to shut the door to possible friendships. It also takes a  period of time to arrange logistics when moving to a new locale. Changing doctors, grocery stores, physical location takes time and interrupts the smoothness of a “settled” life. However, there is a tremendous upside to this dilemma. New people and places provide inspiration for writing. There are also new local authors to discover and new poetry groups with perhaps different perspectives. We have been in the Northeast, South and Southwest during this time and each area has enriched us and instructed us. I have written in libraries, on park benches, in the concourse of Rockefeller Center and even sometimes at home. I happily conclude that writing is a portable activity stimulated by a variety of settings.

My particular challenge now is to find a publisher. Some of my individual poems have been published, but I would like to publish a collection.

As to satisfaction, this season of my life (I suppose it would be fall-winter — I am way over the two-thirds mark!) is one of great fulfillment. I have finally learned to be somewhat selective and protective of my time which I never felt I could be when I was a fulltime mother and a fulltime teacher. Thanks to good health, my spouse and I are experiencing an active and meaningful time of life. We are especially enriched by our role as grandparents and keep in close touch with family members who live in various parts of the country, visiting with them as often as schedules allow.

-what season(s) preceded this one? Growing up in a wonderful town with a good family support system, active in church activities always even when I did not understand the reasons why I should be, afforded an excellent education in a convent school (day student), a small Methodist college and a large state university. I worked as a child welfare worker prior to our marriage, taught for several years while my spouse was in seminary (spring), became a fulltime mother to five children for about seventeen years (summer), returned to teaching for about twenty-five years (early fall), and then retired to begin writing fulltime (late fall and winter). I loved all seasons and remember them with much pleasure!

-what season(s) might your future hold? I hope that my winter is a long one because I have always loved hearing the wind outside, feeling the cold, walking in the snow, making soup and reading and writing by the fireplace. However, when the snow begins to fall heavy and deep and I can no longer find my way, I hope to lie down in its white softness and “make angels” as I did so long ago as a child. I will then look forward to whatever is ahead with excitement and anticipation – a new adventure beyond this life and my final season in it.

favorite family activities: Being with my spouse and grandchildren playing games, celebrating special events and enjoying each other. Since camping together is almost impossible as they grow older, schedule-wise, we will chaperone, attend athletic events and school activities, go to Grandparents’ Day and pretend to enjoy the school cafeteria meal when we are able to participate, and stay in close touch however we can when we live at a distance. Texting and Facebook are two foolproof methods!

favorite solo activities: reading, writing, walking

sources of inspiration: My spouse (really!) and our grandchildren, old and new friends, and good writing. I also find inspiration in quiet places where nature is evident – parks, campgrounds and picnic spots. I think many of life’s moments involve inspiration. One of our son’s broken relationship resulting in a divorce provided me with a lot of poetic inspiration.

best MakeShift moment: When we lived in New York City, I searched and searched for a place to write. I tried the main city library, several nearby branches, Central Park, Bryant Park, and several local coffee shops. Then, one day as I was waiting to meet my spouse, I went into the Rockefeller Center Concourse and found areas where there were tables and chairs for public use. I chose a table with a view onto the skating rink. I listened to the cacophony of sounds as people walked through the concourse finding coffee, picking up a breakfast or lunch in one of the shops in the building or just cutting through from one destination to another in midtown. It was a perfect spot for me and I began to go there on a daily basis to write in the midst of the city noises that I loved. Many other people had their “offices” there. I heard business deals being made over a croissant and old friends from other areas of the country meeting there after years of separation, school children following their teachers to a section of chairs and tables where they unpacked their lunches and appreciated a day away from their classroom and loners who nursed a cup of coffee for hours as they worked on their computers. I had a legal pad, a pen and my ears and eyes. I produced more poetry during that period that I ever have! It taught me that I at least need some “people” sounds to encourage my creativity!

the above photograph was taken by “seventiescopshow” and can be found on the web at http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4886599.jpg.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.