What a journey! Reading this feels like diving into a collection of life lessons and real grit. It’s so inspiring to see you stick with your love for literature and writing, even with all the twists and turns. That time in New Mexico? Wow—that’s such a powerful reminder that sometimes we need to step back to really find ourselves. And props to you for taking on those math classes and tackling public speaking—I know that’s no small feat! Thanks for sharing such an honest story; it’s proof that it’s never too late to go after what really matters.
I can relate to going back to school. Although I never got a Bachelors, I did get my GED and then enrolled in a carpentry and OJT with taking the book learning part of it in the evenings. I went into what was traditionally a mans vocation. I was 27 and got in just under the wire with the CETA program before Reagan took office and cut all those programs out. I was a mother of 3 on welfare living just outside Richmond, VA, and wanted to better my and my children’s plight.
After graduation I got hired with a contractor doing renovation with HUD.
After divorcing the husband of my youngest child after three months of marriage, I moved to FL and got hired by an aluminum construction company because I could read a tape measure. We put up Florida Rooms onto fancy “Mobile” homes. Eventually after another marriage and divorce, (a one night stand that lasted for ten years) I made my way back to New England. Met my now husband of 25 years, went into a carpentry and painting biz with him until I decided I didn’t want to be up on ladders anymore. Went back to school at 57 yo for a year and got my license in Therapeutic Massage. Did that for 10 years until Covid entered into the scene and closed down my biz. Now at 72, I am an active and avid gardener and spent this past year volunteering in our towns first ever Community Garden. I even dragged my husband into volunteering in the carpentry and concrete part of the program.
Now here we are under a new regime and life again, as with covid, will be… interesting to say the very least.
Reading your posts, especially your Zen ones helps give me sustenance to continue on with a mind set of trying not to be so judgmental. So, thank you. Keep writing!! 🤗
Gail, this is so inspiring, thank you! I enjoyed reading your story. As soon as you mentioned CETA I figured your were of a “certain age” haha. I remember my brother did some work under that program. He’s only a year older than me (I’m 60) so it must have just been coming to a close.
I love that you went back for your massage therapy license at that age, and put in ten years at that! That’s amazing. Just last week I was commenting to my wife that, at 60, if I wanted to (I don’t) I could go get a law degree and practice law for at least ten years! It’s never too late! And the important thing is that each day is spent NOT worrying about how much time is left, but rather living each moment so fully that you can feel the eternity in it, and then what we think of as calendar time is completely irrelevant!
Exactly! I remember telling my 4 adult kids when I went back to school at 57–“It is never too late to change your vocation in life!”
I forgot to mention that I had fallen and broken my right hip at the end of 2022 mid Dec. I was given a total hip replacement as a result. It took me a good part of 2023 to gain 95% full use In that leg which the ortho-surgeon had made an inch longer than my left. 🤦🏻♀️
I wasn’t happy but with a lift in my other shoe I have adjusted and this year got back into gardening with a vengeance!
I also have a little room in my home that serves as my art studio. It’s been my place of solace these last few days as I process my grief over the election with creating collages and making time disappear. Or “irrelevant”.
Thank you for letting me share on your substack. 🤗
I’m in MaineHampshire as my daughter calls it. I’m just over the border into Maine in the Berwicks. I get back at her by saying she lives in PensylJersey. LOL! I am about 20 min north of Portsmouth and 45 min south of Portland.
Wow, what an incredible, hard won journey, Don! I loved hearing the inspiring story of your life's desire, to have a degree, and how you laboriously fulfilled it! Big congratulations! Also loved the Writers Resource Center - such a great thing - and what a neat photo. Saludos and hats off to you!!!!
You have a really interesting story to tell, Don. And your perseverance is admirable. I also love that you learned SO much about literature. I think part of it is because you studied at a later stage in life. When I was in college at a young age, I had a major in journalism so though i did a double major w/ lit, my emphasis was on journalism and just graduating and getting on w/ life. So it was only through independent reading that I got to explore many other books and genres. But you had a great expanse of such varied reading! Love that for you. Glad you shared your 'origin' story. Amazing!
It was definitely enriching to immerse myself in the kind of reading I wouldn’t normally gravitate toward, such as romantic poetry or classic English literature (Milton, Chaucer), and even though I won’t remember too much about these works, I’m sure it changed me in some good ways 😊
You are living proof that it's never too late....and more than that. We can keep learning throughout a lifetime. I graduated from college 4 years after high school, not all that unusual in my neighborhood.
Then went straight on to another 3 years of graduate school. After 7 years of working in a profession that didn't fit well, I'll be darned if I didn't go back to school again, 4 more years and changed careers a few more times after that. If you add up the total years in classrooms and seat time, it was 24 years! Sheesh! Slow learner I think. Schooling and being educated are not the same. You are a talented craftsman, carpenter, writer and a genuine kind of guy whom I admire and respect for who you are and what you're doing. I am remembering our coffee in Hyannis and you have a standing invitation to come have one here anytime. Thanks for being you!
Don, I love your story. Congratulations! I believe that no matter what path we take we end up doing what we are supposed to do. My wife finally received her degree at age 40. She has always been a strong person and the degree gave her even more confidence. She had a psychology professor who told her she was not smart enough to be in college. She proved her wrong.
What a fantastic tale of perseverance and knowing your truth. And now here you are sharing so many honest and transformative stories. The ripple effect is still expanding!
I enjoyed reading about your journey, Don. Thank you for so honestly detailing it for us. Your entire journey is inspiring; reading it really touches the dreamer within me who also wants to earn her English degree. How courageous of you to pursue a deep-seated dream following three prior attempts! I hope that you received from it all that you wished you would. And thank you so much for the treasure that is Shy Guy Meets the Buddha. I have no memory about how I stumbled upon your Substack, but I am SO glad that I did.
I'm truly touched by your kind words, today, Raza. I can't believe I haven't checked out your blog until today! I just read the Ann Patchett piece (you had me with that wonderful author!) and I'm really looking forward to checking out more. 😊
I love this, Dan, the whole lives story. Your words, “It was as if it already belonged to me, and I had merely neglected to claim it,” struck me. To some extent I feel this way about writing. I still have to work hard at the craft, and I hope to improve. But I am beginning to feel more strongly that, as Thich Nhat Hanh said, “what you are looking for is already in you,” that I’m walking into who I have always been. It’s clear that you are also doing this in multiple ways.
Ooh, yes, thank you for pointing that out, Emily, I think you are absolutely right! And I so much love your phrase, “I’m walking into who I’ve always been.” I am going to carry this thought with me now. 🙏🩷
(I am remembering now that in the ninth grade I wrote a short story and the teacher loved it so much that he gave me an A for the entire semester, exempted me from all tests and everything! Boy, did I not listen to the universe!”)
In ninth grade, there is so much "noise" that the universe is pretty hard to hear:). But wow, an A for the entire semester! That must have been awesome. Have a good trip to FL!
I loved reading your story, Don. You inspire me with hope. I was completely drawn in, and could feel your emotions all throughout. I just turned 60 and at 59, retired from my fulltime (teaching!) job of 35 years, to work fulltime on my passions of talking to strangers and spreading the good I see in the world (through my beloved podcast, "Love Sweet Love", yes, as in "what the world needs now, is..."), and writing about what can make us happier, healthier and more fulfilled, here on Substack. I love it so much. Every day creating and making decisions about how to convey what I feel and see. Your story is brave and optimistic. Thank you, Don!
I love it! I just posted a link to that song the other day in a Note—the Amiee Mann version, which I really love. I will check out your blog and your podcast! Thank you, Gayle! 🙏💚
I had that same kind of visit with the boys’ counselor when I was a senior in high school. He advised that I did not appear to be college material so I should learn a trade in vocational school or find employment in retail. I did take a job in retail for a year, working with a part-time employee who convinced me to apply to university, which I did. Apparently he saw something that the boys’ counselor didn’t.
Wow, thanks for sharing that, Paul. It's incredible how vulnerable and impressionable we are at that age. That one person can influence our path, in a good or a not-so-good direction! I had an older nun/creative writing teacher write on one of my assignments, "Try further education," and I never forgot it because not a whole lot of people were talking about it in my life.
I'd sure like to know why that counselor thought you were't college material. Probably had a lot more to do with him than with you. He was likely projecting some past experience onto you.
Thanks, Don. I had “deportment” issues, but good grades. I came from a working class background and no one in the family had ever gone to college except an uncle that we rarely saw.
Good for you Don. I love your persistence. I also went back to college at the age of forty- five and got my Bachelor’s degree. My kids were just starting college at the time and it was weird going to school with kids my kids’ age. I went on to get a Master’s in second language teaching, emphasis in Spanish.
Don, I really enjoyed learning more about your journey—I’m impressed by your grit and commitment to self-exploration! I was just researching culinary schools yesterday (which I gave up for law school). This is timely inspiration. 😊
What a journey! Reading this feels like diving into a collection of life lessons and real grit. It’s so inspiring to see you stick with your love for literature and writing, even with all the twists and turns. That time in New Mexico? Wow—that’s such a powerful reminder that sometimes we need to step back to really find ourselves. And props to you for taking on those math classes and tackling public speaking—I know that’s no small feat! Thanks for sharing such an honest story; it’s proof that it’s never too late to go after what really matters.
Thank you so much, Sonaakshi. I really appreciate that and it’s always so nice to hear from you.
Yes, sometimes a retreat is exactly what you need 🙏💚
Congratulations Don,
I can relate to going back to school. Although I never got a Bachelors, I did get my GED and then enrolled in a carpentry and OJT with taking the book learning part of it in the evenings. I went into what was traditionally a mans vocation. I was 27 and got in just under the wire with the CETA program before Reagan took office and cut all those programs out. I was a mother of 3 on welfare living just outside Richmond, VA, and wanted to better my and my children’s plight.
After graduation I got hired with a contractor doing renovation with HUD.
After divorcing the husband of my youngest child after three months of marriage, I moved to FL and got hired by an aluminum construction company because I could read a tape measure. We put up Florida Rooms onto fancy “Mobile” homes. Eventually after another marriage and divorce, (a one night stand that lasted for ten years) I made my way back to New England. Met my now husband of 25 years, went into a carpentry and painting biz with him until I decided I didn’t want to be up on ladders anymore. Went back to school at 57 yo for a year and got my license in Therapeutic Massage. Did that for 10 years until Covid entered into the scene and closed down my biz. Now at 72, I am an active and avid gardener and spent this past year volunteering in our towns first ever Community Garden. I even dragged my husband into volunteering in the carpentry and concrete part of the program.
Now here we are under a new regime and life again, as with covid, will be… interesting to say the very least.
Reading your posts, especially your Zen ones helps give me sustenance to continue on with a mind set of trying not to be so judgmental. So, thank you. Keep writing!! 🤗
Gail, this is so inspiring, thank you! I enjoyed reading your story. As soon as you mentioned CETA I figured your were of a “certain age” haha. I remember my brother did some work under that program. He’s only a year older than me (I’m 60) so it must have just been coming to a close.
I love that you went back for your massage therapy license at that age, and put in ten years at that! That’s amazing. Just last week I was commenting to my wife that, at 60, if I wanted to (I don’t) I could go get a law degree and practice law for at least ten years! It’s never too late! And the important thing is that each day is spent NOT worrying about how much time is left, but rather living each moment so fully that you can feel the eternity in it, and then what we think of as calendar time is completely irrelevant!
Exactly! I remember telling my 4 adult kids when I went back to school at 57–“It is never too late to change your vocation in life!”
I forgot to mention that I had fallen and broken my right hip at the end of 2022 mid Dec. I was given a total hip replacement as a result. It took me a good part of 2023 to gain 95% full use In that leg which the ortho-surgeon had made an inch longer than my left. 🤦🏻♀️
I wasn’t happy but with a lift in my other shoe I have adjusted and this year got back into gardening with a vengeance!
I also have a little room in my home that serves as my art studio. It’s been my place of solace these last few days as I process my grief over the election with creating collages and making time disappear. Or “irrelevant”.
Thank you for letting me share on your substack. 🤗
I’m in MaineHampshire as my daughter calls it. I’m just over the border into Maine in the Berwicks. I get back at her by saying she lives in PensylJersey. LOL! I am about 20 min north of Portsmouth and 45 min south of Portland.
You are not too far from my brother-in-law, who lives in Newmarket, New Hampshire
Where in New England are you living,Gail?
Correct! My husband and I did a couple of renovations there about 10 or more years ago.
Aw, Dan, I just loved this. And the timing is perfect...an authentic American story in a time when it is needed.
Aw, thank you, Frances, that’s really nice to hear!
Huge congratulations!
Thank you, Lorraine! 🙏💚
Wow, what an incredible, hard won journey, Don! I loved hearing the inspiring story of your life's desire, to have a degree, and how you laboriously fulfilled it! Big congratulations! Also loved the Writers Resource Center - such a great thing - and what a neat photo. Saludos and hats off to you!!!!
Thank you so much, Jeanine. You are so kind and supportive and I really appreciate it 🙏💚
You have a really interesting story to tell, Don. And your perseverance is admirable. I also love that you learned SO much about literature. I think part of it is because you studied at a later stage in life. When I was in college at a young age, I had a major in journalism so though i did a double major w/ lit, my emphasis was on journalism and just graduating and getting on w/ life. So it was only through independent reading that I got to explore many other books and genres. But you had a great expanse of such varied reading! Love that for you. Glad you shared your 'origin' story. Amazing!
It was definitely enriching to immerse myself in the kind of reading I wouldn’t normally gravitate toward, such as romantic poetry or classic English literature (Milton, Chaucer), and even though I won’t remember too much about these works, I’m sure it changed me in some good ways 😊
I'm sure it did! It's all in 'the vault.'
You are living proof that it's never too late....and more than that. We can keep learning throughout a lifetime. I graduated from college 4 years after high school, not all that unusual in my neighborhood.
Then went straight on to another 3 years of graduate school. After 7 years of working in a profession that didn't fit well, I'll be darned if I didn't go back to school again, 4 more years and changed careers a few more times after that. If you add up the total years in classrooms and seat time, it was 24 years! Sheesh! Slow learner I think. Schooling and being educated are not the same. You are a talented craftsman, carpenter, writer and a genuine kind of guy whom I admire and respect for who you are and what you're doing. I am remembering our coffee in Hyannis and you have a standing invitation to come have one here anytime. Thanks for being you!
Thank you so much, Gary, and I am definitely gonna take you up on that coffee offer one of these days!
Don, I love your story. Congratulations! I believe that no matter what path we take we end up doing what we are supposed to do. My wife finally received her degree at age 40. She has always been a strong person and the degree gave her even more confidence. She had a psychology professor who told her she was not smart enough to be in college. She proved her wrong.
Lucky she didn't believe that professor! I'm very happy for her, and for you! ❤️
What a fantastic tale of perseverance and knowing your truth. And now here you are sharing so many honest and transformative stories. The ripple effect is still expanding!
Aw, thank you, Laura. How wonderful to hear from you! 🙏🩷
I enjoyed reading about your journey, Don. Thank you for so honestly detailing it for us. Your entire journey is inspiring; reading it really touches the dreamer within me who also wants to earn her English degree. How courageous of you to pursue a deep-seated dream following three prior attempts! I hope that you received from it all that you wished you would. And thank you so much for the treasure that is Shy Guy Meets the Buddha. I have no memory about how I stumbled upon your Substack, but I am SO glad that I did.
I'm truly touched by your kind words, today, Raza. I can't believe I haven't checked out your blog until today! I just read the Ann Patchett piece (you had me with that wonderful author!) and I'm really looking forward to checking out more. 😊
I love this, Dan, the whole lives story. Your words, “It was as if it already belonged to me, and I had merely neglected to claim it,” struck me. To some extent I feel this way about writing. I still have to work hard at the craft, and I hope to improve. But I am beginning to feel more strongly that, as Thich Nhat Hanh said, “what you are looking for is already in you,” that I’m walking into who I have always been. It’s clear that you are also doing this in multiple ways.
And I love the pictures!
Ooh, yes, thank you for pointing that out, Emily, I think you are absolutely right! And I so much love your phrase, “I’m walking into who I’ve always been.” I am going to carry this thought with me now. 🙏🩷
(I am remembering now that in the ninth grade I wrote a short story and the teacher loved it so much that he gave me an A for the entire semester, exempted me from all tests and everything! Boy, did I not listen to the universe!”)
In ninth grade, there is so much "noise" that the universe is pretty hard to hear:). But wow, an A for the entire semester! That must have been awesome. Have a good trip to FL!
Thanks, Emily. :-)
Awesome accomplishment. From one peer writing tutor to another, it really is the best work study job! Congratulations.
Ah, glad to meet someone who can really relate to the experience! Thank you so much, Abra!
Hi Paul, you had guts, you persisted and you have succeeded. We all get the benefits of your past and ongoing growth. Daniel
Thank you, Daniel! 🙏💚
I loved reading your story, Don. You inspire me with hope. I was completely drawn in, and could feel your emotions all throughout. I just turned 60 and at 59, retired from my fulltime (teaching!) job of 35 years, to work fulltime on my passions of talking to strangers and spreading the good I see in the world (through my beloved podcast, "Love Sweet Love", yes, as in "what the world needs now, is..."), and writing about what can make us happier, healthier and more fulfilled, here on Substack. I love it so much. Every day creating and making decisions about how to convey what I feel and see. Your story is brave and optimistic. Thank you, Don!
I love it! I just posted a link to that song the other day in a Note—the Amiee Mann version, which I really love. I will check out your blog and your podcast! Thank you, Gayle! 🙏💚
I had that same kind of visit with the boys’ counselor when I was a senior in high school. He advised that I did not appear to be college material so I should learn a trade in vocational school or find employment in retail. I did take a job in retail for a year, working with a part-time employee who convinced me to apply to university, which I did. Apparently he saw something that the boys’ counselor didn’t.
Wow, thanks for sharing that, Paul. It's incredible how vulnerable and impressionable we are at that age. That one person can influence our path, in a good or a not-so-good direction! I had an older nun/creative writing teacher write on one of my assignments, "Try further education," and I never forgot it because not a whole lot of people were talking about it in my life.
I'd sure like to know why that counselor thought you were't college material. Probably had a lot more to do with him than with you. He was likely projecting some past experience onto you.
Thanks, Don. I had “deportment” issues, but good grades. I came from a working class background and no one in the family had ever gone to college except an uncle that we rarely saw.
So we’re in the same canoe! (Except I was too shy to have “deportment” issues :-)
Good for you Don. I love your persistence. I also went back to college at the age of forty- five and got my Bachelor’s degree. My kids were just starting college at the time and it was weird going to school with kids my kids’ age. I went on to get a Master’s in second language teaching, emphasis in Spanish.
Congratulations!
Wow, that’s amazing, Lauren! Good for you. My son was in college at the same time as me as well lol.
Don, I really enjoyed learning more about your journey—I’m impressed by your grit and commitment to self-exploration! I was just researching culinary schools yesterday (which I gave up for law school). This is timely inspiration. 😊
Awesome, Danielle, thank you. I know you’re involved in a pretty major shift yourself. I wish you the very best in your life and choices!