TRANSFORMATION

by Barb Landes as an exercise for the Legacy Writing Affinity Group

Change has rarely been something that I’ve sought in my life. I tend to like things to remain static, predictable, status-quo. There have been times, however, when I’ve been moved to seek out a fairly drastic change – moving to a different town, or making a job change, for example. In those instances, I was clearly led by opportunities and/or circumstances to pursue something new. The most recent change that has significantly altered my life was the decision to retire. I was extremely fortunate that this decision was easy to make: I retired from teaching in 2015.  

So, decision made. But what next? Those who know me well will not be surprised to learn that my only expectations for retirement were to be able to sleep in and do the crossword puzzle every morning. Beyond that, I seriously had not made any plans. I knew I would want to do some volunteer work, but the nature of that was a mystery.  

My retirement may have taken a different path were it not for a wonderful program I was introduced to called Purposeful Retirement (PR). One of the blessings of my Peer Leader role was meeting a wonderful group of women who would soon become dear friends. One of these people was Phyllis Paetznick, who happened to invite me (and the three other colleagues who were to retire that spring) to the Pre-Retirement Seminar held at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church (SOTV) in January of 2015. What an eye-opening experience. The seminar clued me in to the idea that I really needed to give some thought and planning to how I wanted my non-working years to be spent. The title “Purposeful Retirement” said it all – I needed to not leave my time to chance, but to plan for experiences that would add meaning to my life. I already believed that retirement was a gift. In what other stage of life do we have the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want? The challenge, now, was to not waste that gift.  

Immediately upon retiring in the spring of 2015, I began attending events put on by PR. I recall going to the Retirement Party and attending a travel program about Door County and Grand Marias. (Some friends and I actually went to Grand Marais the next summer as a result of this program). I attended programs about grief and loss, recording family memories, Road Scholars, and healthy living, just to name a few. Each program was outstanding (The Healthy Living program had so many moving parts, I was highly impressed. This was where I was introduced to acouplecooks.com, and decided to try acupuncture and aromatherapy). I also joined the book club when it began. As I continued to attend these events, I started to become familiar with some of the members of PR, seeing them at repeated programs, either as leaders or attendees. A very nice lady named Jane Stubblefield made it a point to speak to me at some of these events. When we happened to run into each other a couple of times out in the community, I was so impressed that she not only remembered me, but took the time to engage in conversation with me. Getting to know kind folks like Jane, and often seeing my colleagues Phyllis and Julie Montgomery who were becoming good friends, just made PR more appealing to me. If anybody asked, I would gladly tell them that PR enhanced my retirement. In fact, I showed up to so many events, that I was eventually asked to join the PR Steering Committee, which I did with enthusiasm.  

A wonderful offshoot of my involvement with PR was that I was spending time at SOTV, even attending worship. During my last several years working, I had let my church involvement/attendance lag. While I was still a member of River Hills United Methodist Church in Burnsville, I had not been active for some time. Simply put, I was too tired to do anything during the evenings, and I got lazy about sleeping in on Sunday mornings. So, even though I was raised Methodist, joining SOTV was a very natural transition, and it was surely a shot in the arm to my faith life.  

As I mentioned earlier, I consider the gift of time one of the best benefits of living the retired life. While not working, I was free to pursue some creative endeavors. I took a couple of drawing classes, then gradually got into watercolor. I now follow watercolor tutorials online to create floral pictures that I turn into greeting cards. That has led me to working with our Card Ministry here at church which fills me up creatively as well as providing a service to others.  

One of the biggest changes that retirement brings is the end to our day-to-day interactions with colleagues. It can be a bit of a challenge to sustain relationships with former co-workers when they’re still working and you’re not. But, we know that friendships – connections with others – are vital to maintaining one’s health in aging.  

Credit goes to PR and SOTV for all of the dear, meaningful friendships I’ve made in these years of retirement. By the way, PR would not exist without the inspiration and dedication of Kristi Kuhnau and Duane Paetznick, the creators of the program. It is not an understatement to say that my friends bless me with every interaction. So, clearly, making the transition from working to being retired was a seamless and beneficial change for me.  I’m very satisfied with how I spend my time. And I’m as busy as I want to be. But, how has it changed me? Mostly, I believe that it has made me a more grateful person. I am so thankful for the opportunities that this phase of life has presented. God has put amazing people in my life. And He has given me meaningful things to do and ways to contribute. What more could I want?  

GET INVOLVED  
If you are interested in joining Purposeful Retirement or Card Ministry you can contact Julie Opheim, the staff person in charge of these ministries. She can be reached at julie.opheim@sotv.org or by phone at 952.985.7331.