WINNING IN VEGAS, BABY!

Posted on by Gwen Lisboa

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I was on the road again to one of my favorite places.  Always when traveling to Vegas there is the anticipation of hearing bells ring and lights flash as the reels on the slot machines line up to make me a winner.

But for this trip I knew I had already won. My youngest son would be graduating from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) with a bachelor degree in business management. He was a winner in Vegas, baby!

This time the anticipated joy would be to hear his name announced during the commencement ritual. I was not disappointed. In the Thomas and Mack stadium I heard his name loud and clear and I, along with other family members, cheered loud and clear.

Before the degrees were conferred the president of the college noted a few statistics about the graduates of the premier university in the state of Nevada. In the four ceremonies scheduled over two days about 3,000 students would receive undergraduate and advanced degrees. This graduating group was one of the most ethnically diverse among colleges in the United States and included students representing 53 other nations. The majority of the graduates were females. This year the youngest recipient of a bachelor of arts was 18 years old. The oldest person to earn a degree was 74.

I  wondered about that 74-year old. Was it a woman who had devoted her life to raising her family, and then decided finally to pursue her academic goal? Was it a man who had decided to delay his higher education goals in order to push forward the attainment of a degree by his children? Could it have been a person who just yearned to learn? It was someone who wasn’t bothered about what the mostly younger people felt about her or him sitting next to them in class. They earned the degree at UNLV but they could have started out trying a few classes at a community college. Obviously, it was someone who wanted to pursue and achieve a dream regardless of his or her age.

Have you deferred a dream of earning a bachelor, masters, or a doctoral degree? Can you imagine how that 74 year old felt holding that diploma and not just still wishfully thinking about it?

Try a Different Approach

Posted on by Gwen Lisboa

 

This year in order to receive my props for being a great mother I was asked to be ready to go out to breakfast at 7:30 a.m. What’s the deal? Last year I was served breakfast in bed. But I was informed that we were going to do something different this year and it did not include waiting for two hours in order to have diner in a restaurant filled with mothers, grandmothers, and all the honorees children and other family members.

By 8:00 a.m. we left the house and went to a nice little place in the Old Town section of the city. A place too fancy to be a called coffee house (it has chandeliers) but not a four star restaurant. We were told the wait would only be 45 minutes. So, we sat in the chairs lined up on the sidewalk and people watched as other families came to give the hostess a name and then sit or stand around watching the morning haze clear away as the sun began to shine. Service was quick, breakfast was delicious and we weren’t rushed to finish by the staff. This was part one of Mother’s Day. So far it was a success.

Part two was the surprise activity for the day. We walked about two blocks to one of those businesses where those with a yen for creativity can become full fledged artist for two hours. The ceramic paint store does half the work by having already formed pieces on the shelf. For their project, the artist selects from cups, bowls, piggy banks, candleholders, large frogs, wall hangings, and a variety of other items. The artist then sits at a table, decides on the design from their imagination or inspiration from available art books, and then chooses colors to paint (glaze) with. After about two hours, you are expected to have completed your work.

Everyone was in agreement that each of our efforts was outstanding! Compliments flowed all around.

While glazing my mug, I took time to look around at groups at nearby tables. It was nice to see mothers who had brought in their young children to paint a keepsake for remembering the day. A couple of mothers helped their children to place a handprint or even a footprint on a platter. Fathers and grandfathers who were present seem to be having a good time just getting their project covered with glaze.

Our ceramic pieces would be put in a kiln to set the glaze and ready for pick up in seven days.

Some people opted to create their pieces in advance of The Day. There was a steady stream of fathers bringing in their children to pick up finished ceramic pieces that had been glazed a week in advanced. I could just imagine the joy Mom would have as she unwrapped the gift especially made for her.

This Mother’s Day celebration was a refreshing change. If you’re willing to let your children plan the event you just might end of doing something different than sitting in a chair waiting for your name to be called. Of course, I want to still keep the part where they handed me a bouquet of flowers.

And how was your Mother’s Day?

New Beginnings

Posted on by Gwen Lisboa

 

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It was what you might expect to see at a baby shower.  The guest came in smiling and barring gifts.  Onesies, romper sets, baby bottles, car sits, baby baths, t-shirts, blankets and all sorts necessities for babies  were wrapped in blue, yellow, or mint paper (not pink because it had been announced that twin boys were expected) with designs of balloons,  dots and swirls, or some baby animals like puppies, giraffes, bears, or, even cartoon looking cars and trucks.  This shower celebration had an optional “entry” ticket.  Guests had been asked to bring a package of baby diapers for which they would be given a ticket for a prize drawing.  Apparently most of the guest wanted to participate,  so the pile of diaper packages grew quite high.  Someone joked that after the arrival of the  twins, the diaper bounty should last at least, well,  a couple of months.

The stage was being set for a new beginning.  After the initial realization that a new life was being developed, followed by months of planning for the new babies, family and friends had gathered to fill the nursery with the things need to support the new people coming on the scene.

Have you set up for your new beginning?  There was the retirement celebration.  There were a few gifts.  Co-workers, family and friends extended words of congratulations for hours and hard work done for the past 20, 30, or 40 years or so.  At least one person expressed their envy of you for no longer having to rise and shine on Monday mornings, ride in bumper to bumper traffic, and then take your position on the job at the expected start time and hang in there until it was time to quit for the day.  Many had asked, ” So, what do you plan to do with all that work-free time?”

You might have answered, “Oh travel, (or play golf,  clean out the garage, volunteer at the elementary school).”  Some of us prepare years to be able to meet the financial needs that come during retirement. We might even think we know how we’re going to fill in the hours.  But once into retirement you may find that the possibilities may be limited by finances, by health issues, by family needs.  You made up a list of things to do in retirement but now you are  no longer  interested in doing some of those things.  You’d  rather look around for different experiences.  The most undesirable thing that happens is to find that having so many unstructured hours leaves you bored or maybe just mildly dissatisfied with your lifestyle.

If you find yourself watching a lot (A LOT) of television, sleeping long into the mornings, wasting time staring up and down the block just to see another soul, don’tt want to count another knit one, purl one sequence,  then you may need to start setting up for a new beginning.

It is never to late to start again.  Let me know your first thoughts on how you might transform your retirement days.

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Teapot and Cups

Posted on by Gwen Lisboa
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Photo:Gwen Lisboa

Sometimes there isn’t enough time to do all that you want. There were years when my time wasn’t even mine. My days included working a demanding administrative job, keeping a house neat and tidy (well almost),  homework for 2 boys, the laundry, getting meals prepared or driving through one of the fast food chains, visiting with friends, sports activities and all the etcetera’s. Every now and then I would see a particularly interesting piece of pottery and wish I could learn how to make a similar piece. But of course, there was no more time in the schedule.

Then I retired. So I began to search for a location to pursue my long held interest.

I thought a teapot and matching cups would be an excellent first project. I started asking around about places to study ceramics and found a few options. There was the Art Center College. This is a well-respected institution but also attracts career artist who I thought would probably be embarrassingly way beyond by abilities. The local community college had listings for several ceramics classes but the parking hassles weren’t appealing. The nearby private ceramics studio offered classes but at a greater expense than some one on a newly fixed income felt comfortable paying for beginner classes. The best choice became the ceramics program at the community adult school in a neighboring community. Right place, right price, right time, and as it turned out, the great mix of people also attend there.

I enrolled but learned the teapot and cups would have to come later. The first project was making a slab vase. Ok, easy enough to do. I was instructed on how to cut a block of clay from a larger brick, roll it out flat, wrap it around a tube before removing it and sealing the seam and adding a bottom, firing it to bisque, then dipping it into one of the available glazing vats. After another firing I had a vase! It looked amateurish but I was pleased that I had taken the chance to walk into a ceramics studio and become a potter.

The next simple project were mugs created using the slab technique. For a time, I made sure everyone knew that I drank coffee or tea from mugs I made myself.

A few more simple projects and I came to realize that forming a teapot required that I developed more advanced pottery skills. So I kept the teapot on the back burner.

In the mean time I practiced different finishing techniques and styling elements on slab platters, vases, mugs, and mold formed bowls.  Eventually, I got up the nerve to sit down at the potters’ wheel and learn to throw pieces. Using the wheel is a fun yet challenging way to create ceramic pieces; it’s harder than it looks. Currently, I prefer to study and practice ceramics using the slab technique. I like the feel of the clay as I coax it into shape.. There is a very meditative feeling that comes with the concentration needed form a bowl using my fingers.

After my elementary level beginning, my confidence and artistic skill grew to the point that I entered some of my pieces in the school spring ceramics show, which features a sale of student work. Some of my pieces sold! It was a good feeling to know that other people valued my work enough to pay for it.

What has been in the back of your mind to try, if only you had the time? In your own community or nearby there is a place for you to learn and practice this skill or art. Ask around and read flyers and catalogs from schools or find a private teacher. You don’t have to be proficient at it already. It’s a little more than a leisure activity. This is more about you doing something that enhances your retirement lifestyle.

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Hello

Posted on by Gwen Lisboa

Wow!

You been retired for a while now…5 days or has it been 5 years?  You don’t have to follow a plan set by an employer.  You’re now Me, Inc.  You set the day-your timing, your activity.  This can be frightening or exhilarating.  You want to avoid boredom.  So, we’re going to work together to have the best Me, Inc. possible.  We’re going to discover various things to do with all this new found time.  Maybe you’ll rediscover an old passion that you had to let go off because of all the demands that became a priority during your working years.  Or, will you be the kind of person who wants to check out a number of interest and dable in a few of them?

Everyday is going to be what you make it!