The Play’s The Thing. Where I’ve Been And Where I’m Going.

As my retirement roars past the half-year mark, people have two questions for me; how am I spending my time, and why am I writing fewer blogs? The answers are somewhat intertwined.

I am doing the standard “stuff” for a fairly young retiree. There’s plenty of time for sports. I’ve discovered I enjoy golf more than I thought I would, and that no matter how hard I try, playing both tennis and pickleball leads to poor results in each. At least that is my excuse!

Barb and I have done a spot of traveling and the planning for some upcoming trips to Germany and Australasia has also consumed many hours, planning that I am sure will prove worthwhile.

In addition, I’ve started to volunteer regularly at the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and I really do find that retirement has given me more time to spend with family, especially as an emergency babysitter. All four grandkids are adorable, so I enjoy every minute of that, as well as long leisurely walks with Cooper the Wonder Dog.

I’m doing a little consulting work in pathology, though it is a bit less than I had anticipated. That is the first reason the blog count has dropped–not as many pathology/medicine topics are coming to mind.

The second reason for the falloff in blog volume is more adventuresome–I have started to write a play!

An idea that was in the back of my head has germinated, and my writing time has mostly been spent on getting inside the heads of some characters I have created. For writing instruction, I dived into reading some great American plays, finding the buried humanity in Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, the total lack of humanity in Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, and the overwhelming out-datedness of Woody Allen’s Play it Again, Sam.

You ask what I am writing about? You will get no answer from me on that question, for as Barb can tell you, I do not share my works-in-progress willingly. All I can tell you is I have taken the “write what you know” philosophy and thrown it out of the window.

I am taking what is for me the unusual step of working with a collaborator. Doctor Joel Cornfield, who I have known for many years, is an established playwright who is very active in the Chicago theater scene. He has agreed to take me under his wing to see if I can learn to fly. I’ll be sending him my first draft in a week or two.

So retirement rocks! Or as the greatest playwright who ever lived put it “Tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age.”

It never hurts to end a blog with a bit of Shakespeare!

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