Practicing retirement

LaurieT has 30 weeks left till she retires, so on Monday (her day off), she is “practicing retirement.” We have both been listening to Krista Tippett’s summing up of twenty years of in-depth radio interviews, specifically the session called Living the Questions. Tippett invites us to “Formulate a question that is rolling around in your life,” and commit to living into that question.

Laurie says her question for many years was, “How can I survive and support myself while doing work I believe in?” She has lived into that question without having to be employed by an institution nor subject to a “boss.” She offered early childhood education to a succession of cohorts of children from birth to age three. She cared for and educated groups of children in her home, trained and mentored a succession of teachers, and offered workshops. When Covid hit, she found creative ways to stay in business and to educate the babies of “essential workers.” 

Now she’s formulating a new question—and looking forward to resuming her blip journal and exploring online community with adults. I look forward to hearing her new question when she’s ready to share it, on Blip or otherwise. I made several photographs of her (and she of me), and I like this one because she is so clearly dreaming up her new question.