The Rest of Your Life

I have a friend I’ve known for more than sixty years. During the summer months, we lunch at the Monument Park in Saint Paul. We’ve kept our bond of friendship strong since first meeting at our respective first jobs out of college. Now in his retirement, my friend has chosen to spend a lot of his time in caregiving members of his religious community.

We don’t talk about it a lot but he is comforted in knowing that he’s making a real difference in his patient’s lives. There’s a strong religious component to the care but it’s never pronounced nor a banner in his relationship with his patients. He does it because it is the right thing for him to do and it brings a comforting presence to his patient’s lives.

My friend’s devotion to others got me to thinking about how other folks I know, now also in their retirement years, have chosen to spend the rest of their lives. I’ve often complained about the ‘old men at the coffee shop.’ These are the retirees whose lives have descended into gathering each morning at the old watering hole simply to complain about life in general. Most communities have a McDonalds where the disenfranchised gather each morning. Their rhetoric is usually the same. It’s a steady stream of grousing about local and national politics, other nationalities, young people, employers,

Fortunately, there’s another group of folks who have chosen to be more productive in their remaining years here on the planet. Whatever their profession in their other life, they have now gone in another direction which brings them newfound satisfaction.

There’s an old girlfriend of mine who has traveled the world and continues skipping around the globe with her husband. Several other women I know have embraced their passion for the arts; painting, acting, and other creative/theatrical ventures. Another couple decided early on to have a major presence in their grandchildren’s lives and have done just that. Another fellow at 89 years young is still doing taxes and loving it.

Richard J. Leider in his book ‘Power of Purpose’ talks about what researchers are discovering about how an increased sense of purpose can improve our health, healing, happiness, longevity, and productivity. The book has a definite spiritual bent about it. But Leider, without apology, sees this as an important component in his approach to life-satisfying ventures.

Leider goes on to explain that ‘Purpose is an active expression of our values and our compassion for others-it makes us want to get up in the morning and add value to the world.’ His book, details a graceful, practical, and ultimately spiritual process for making it central to your life.

With or without a spiritual angle, finding purpose for the rest of your life is certainly a worthwhile venture in living. I found mine almost by accident. While easing out of my business ventures, I encountered an irascible jerk who pushed me to the limit. I’d had enough and decided to close up shop. That left me with the next big challenge. What to do with the rest of my life? Retirement wasn’t an option. So, what was I going to do until my tour of duty here on earth ended?

Two western novels, written back in 1972 and 1973, were still gathering dust and growing gray with the ages. They were born in the snapping keys of my faithful LC Smith typewriter and an overactive imagination. Each evening, I would escape into our home in Reisterstown, Maryland, close the door and travel out West once again.

Each typewritten page was born, editing, retyped, and set aside. After a year and two hundred and fifty pages for the first novel, it was set aside and a second one begun. Another year later, it was also finished, set aside, and forgotten as my first-born son captured my full attention.

Fast forward fifty years and I went back to those tired old binders of graying pages of threatening Apache smoke signals, a fiery redhead; and a grizzled travel-worn scout and their adventures in the hot Arizona desert.

After scanning that first novel onto a floppy disc and then transferring it into my new Macintosh computer, I was off to the races. It took three more self-published novels before I would let myself admit that perhaps I had become a writer. After that, the plays, movie scripts, novellas, poetry, children’s books, comic strips, song lyrics and more than 700 blogs came bursting forth.

For me the journey is never ending. Fortunately, there’s no time limit on writing. That is, until the words lose their meaning and the story becomes boring. Until then, I’ll just keep pounding away on the keyboard and spin my tales of imaginative folks and (I hope) interesting storylines. It’s become ‘the rest of my life’ and I’m loving it.

It's All Theater

Hotel Kitano

 It’s 5:00 in the morning and I’m sequestered in a local Starbucks on Park Avenue half a block from my hotel in New York City. While most of the world is still sleep, I’m on assignment constructing my next play ‘The Last Sentinel.’ Aside from better tailoring, there is little to differentiate this bleary-eyed crowd meandering in from the same caffeinated patrons back in Palm Springs. If you focus on their eyes, they all have a story to tell. Some can be translated quite easily and others only guessed at  - but the stories are there none-the-less.

Philly Bridge

Yesterday afternoon we rolled up two hundred and twelve miles of Amtrak coach from Annapolis to Penn Station. It’s another whirlwind capture of three Broadway plays in three days plus other assorted ‘have to see’ ventures before we slip back out of town again.

Amtrak

Amtrak always provides a fascinating glimpse into another slice of Americana in its coaches, on the station platforms and through the backside of each city we pass by. East coast rail travel has a long tradition among these folks. For this Midwesterner and born-again Californian, it’s a comfortable cocoon from which to watch another tribe in all its colorful attire and rituals pass by.

Perusing a ‘New York Times’ pilfered from the hotel front desk, I see that the director of the FBI has just been fired. I read column after column and can only conclude that the D.C. theater season is in full swing. Patriots and pontificators alike all shout and push for their place on the printed page.

It would seem the news nowadays, true or otherwise; has been rarified, objectified, idolized, and criticized. No one can see that most of it should all be mummified. On page after page, the circus continues with empty headlines, fake news and accusations meant only to bait more reaction from readers and writers alike.

I think it all began to change back in the Seventies when the national television networks moved their news bureaus over to the Entertainment division. Their budgets were slashed and expenses put under a microscope. Cost-cutting became the norm.

Ever since then rating seem to dominate the news cycle and serious journalism has taken a backseat to anything else that garners ratings even if it is in lieu of meaningful information. Tough questions have taken a backseat to puffery and grandstanding on both the host and guest’s part.

At this stage of the game, only reality-adverse diehards still believe the character actors pretending to be our representatives on the hill. It seems so many of those clowns are reading from scripts that leave out common sense, social decorum and a concern for the common woman and man. I will give those politicians credit though. I watched incredibly talented actors on three different Broadway stages and I think many of the players in Washington could give those professionals a run for their money.

Avenue Q Playbill

Avenue Q Poster

Case in point, we saw a delightful play the first evening. It was a funny, sometimes crass, very insightful performance of Avenue Q. ‘Avenue Q’ was a musical about self-discovery with a rousing cast of irreverent, comical characters, puppets included.

New York Traffic

We rode an average of four cabs a day and I usually ended up riding shotgun in those little yellow bullets. Trying to communicate with the cabbies, many of whom spoke little to poor English, usually came down to hand gestures or pointing to an ad or brochure as our next destination. Their driving skills were beyond reproach and ability to face off with other vehicles a constant challenge. The problem for me was sitting in front with only a dashboard and tin fender between my knees and all the other bumper cars. Most of the time I felt like a kamikaze co-pilot without a helmet.

Come From Away

‘Come From Away’ was an amazing musical which drew its inspiration from a tragic event in U.S. history. In the aftermath of 9/11, 38 planes with 6,579 passengers were stranded in Gander, Newfoundland when U.S. airspace was unexpectedly closed to all air traffic. The play focuses on how the locals opened their hearts and homes, hosting this international community of strangers.

Joel and I

We had dinner with one of the lead actors before the play and then met him backstage afterwards to mingle with the entire cast.

Old elevated railroad - New York

The High Line, also known as the High Line Park, is an almost two-mile park built on an elevated section of a disused New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line.

Inspired by the Promenade Plantee in Paris, the High Line has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and rails-to-trails park. The park runs from the Lower West Side of Manhattan through the Meatpacking District, through Chelsea, to the northern edge of the West Side yards. Real estate development has gone crazy on both sides of the elevated park which gets over five million visitors annually.

Beautiful Playbill

Our last play was’ Beautiful.’  ‘Beautiful’ (The Carole King Musical) is the true story of Carole King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband, to her relationship with fellow writers and singers, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

Riding back to Annapolis in the fading light of day brought back sharp memories of my midnight bus ride from Saint Paul to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and two years of military service. I tried to capture those same emotions and feelings in my book ‘Love in the A Shau.’

Annapolis MD Harbor

Annapolis harbor provided a welcome respite from the harried, hurried days in New York. The whole east coast exploration was a cornucopia of conflicting sights and sounds, emotions and attitudes and mayhem amid direction. It was an escape into a different way of life and only served to reinforce my comfort level back home. An interesting glimpse into professional theater and a storytelling standard I’d like to strive for. Here’s hoping.