When I grow up I want to ...
Once again Lene has sparked some thought with a post, this time about Life Lists -- things you hope to do before you, um, die. At first I could think of nothing, feeling wonderfully content by design & coincidence from my recent trip to Wisconsin.
Then I remembered, "Oh, I want to learn to sign. "
And to speak Italian; although I have no real desire to visit Italy. I don't really want to visit anyWHERE. I like to visit people more than places. I would like to live in some new and interesting place, but I'm not a very good tourist. I'd rather have a family cookout in Mom's yard than go to Paris.
I want to go to the top of the fire tower again, this time with someone who doesn't cling to both hand rails like we're on the Titanic and all the lifeboats just left. (I should give more credit to the kids. They did make it to the top, even if they were a little spooked.)
I'd like to see a PostSecret exhibit. They're going to be at the Reading Public Museum on June 17 -- which would have been Michael D's 44th birthday. He would have loved PostSecret. I think I should go.
But mostly I want to do something that helps other people. It's about time I do some career planning, don't you think? What can a middle-aged (don't laugh; we live to be quite old in my family if something doesn't intervene), intelligent, compassionate woman accomplish? I'm considering end-of-life nursing -- visiting nurse, maybe hospice. Dying well is hard and a person needs all the help they can get (and I do NOT mean Jack Kevorkian). People keep warning "burn-out!", that there is less than no glamour in it and very little money, but I really truly deep down believe I might be good at it.
Then again maybe I'm just being idealistic. We'll see if I can get into a program and rustle up some financial aid. I figure I have 4 years to get it together (that's when I expect the Young Man to go off to college.) In the meantime, I'm planning a new shawl-- this time of my own design in a lovely soft shade of light moss green alpaca. That'll tide me over.
What do you want to do?
Then I remembered, "Oh, I want to learn to sign. "
And to speak Italian; although I have no real desire to visit Italy. I don't really want to visit anyWHERE. I like to visit people more than places. I would like to live in some new and interesting place, but I'm not a very good tourist. I'd rather have a family cookout in Mom's yard than go to Paris.
I want to go to the top of the fire tower again, this time with someone who doesn't cling to both hand rails like we're on the Titanic and all the lifeboats just left. (I should give more credit to the kids. They did make it to the top, even if they were a little spooked.)
I'd like to see a PostSecret exhibit. They're going to be at the Reading Public Museum on June 17 -- which would have been Michael D's 44th birthday. He would have loved PostSecret. I think I should go.
But mostly I want to do something that helps other people. It's about time I do some career planning, don't you think? What can a middle-aged (don't laugh; we live to be quite old in my family if something doesn't intervene), intelligent, compassionate woman accomplish? I'm considering end-of-life nursing -- visiting nurse, maybe hospice. Dying well is hard and a person needs all the help they can get (and I do NOT mean Jack Kevorkian). People keep warning "burn-out!", that there is less than no glamour in it and very little money, but I really truly deep down believe I might be good at it.
Then again maybe I'm just being idealistic. We'll see if I can get into a program and rustle up some financial aid. I figure I have 4 years to get it together (that's when I expect the Young Man to go off to college.) In the meantime, I'm planning a new shawl-- this time of my own design in a lovely soft shade of light moss green alpaca. That'll tide me over.
What do you want to do?
posted by Gail | 5:30 PM
2 Comments:
This is my third try for a comment.
You can start now with hospice, as a volunteer, and see how you like it. They will train you. They would be happy to have you right away, unless you've experienced a death within the last year.
I would like to start a foundation that assists cancer victims who can't work, with housing, etc., when Social Security and insurance won't.
Jan
I read a fantastic article in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago about new trends in hospice care and death doulas. Sounded incredible and if I were more able to be spontaneous, something I'd like to do. I've mislaid your email address - if you send it to me, I can forward the article to you.
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