Taking another new step forward

Well, here I am branching out.  Since I started writing this blog 13 months ago I’ve been thinking that at some point I’d like to synthesize some of the things I’ve learned about retirement and start doing workshops to help other women make this transition a little more gracefully – and with less angst – than I have.  It has taken me a long time to figure out what I would actually do in such a workshop and finally I’m ready to take the leap.  On October 21 – 25, 2009 (the last week of my first year of retirement) Crones Counsel is holding it’s annual conference – this time in Atlanta, Georgia.  It’s their 7th fall meeting and the theme is Transformation: Spiraling Through Life Within and Without. It’s an opportunity for women of all ages to gather and share stories and enrich connections to ourselves, to each other, and to the world.  The conference is committed to processes that promote equality, encourage diversity, support personal empowerment, and honour the value to society of older women’s wisdom and accomplishments.   Am I excited about this?  For sure.  Am I nervous?  Absolutely!!

Keynote Tomorrow: Will it be my last?

I am giving a keynote address at a conference tomorrow.  I was first approached by the conference organizers last summer when I was called – at work, in my office – and asked if I’d  do a presentation at their conference in February on some of the gains we’d made in ESL.  It was the first time that I said: “Sorry, I’ll have retired and be gone by next February but I’m sure someone else from the team would be happy to present“.  I can still remember the feeling that I had when I said that:  gone from the day-t0-day pressures, gone from having to say and do things that I didn’t really believe in, gone from meetings and more meetings and more meetings.  There was also a moment of  “Oh my God; I’ll never speak publically again” which was significant because, if you know me, you know that I love to speak.  

Big day in the OK corral

I’ll start right off by admitting that I’m not sure why I chose the title for this posting but it somehow fits with how I’m feeling.  I’m writing this sitting in a cafe on the outskirts of Toronto where the Family Supports Institute of Ontario (FSIO) is holding it’s 2008 conference “The Communities We Grow; The People Who Make it Happen.”    This is a wonderful conference for all professionals who support families and children.  That’s a lot of people.  I’m sitting here writing because in all of the confusion of closing down my work-office and trying to set up my working space at home – and therein lies a topic for another day – I keep on losing things and overlooking things.  So, when I got up this morning I knew that I’d be presenting this afternoon, but I couldn’t remember at what time in the afternoon and couldn’t locate a conference brochure.  My solution?  I drove out to the conference centre around 11 a.m. so I could deliver my handouts, have a look at the room I’d be presenting in, and find out – without giving myself away – what time I’m “on”.  It’s about 11:30 now and I’ll be speaking at 2, so I’ve got lots of time to sit and write.  Great plan!!