A New Job…

Early in 1999 I took yet another, seemingly small step, but one that would lead to even bigger changes. I put an ad in my local neighborhood paper looking for women to form a walking group. Struggling with my own weight, I needed walking support and what better way than by gathering a group of women together? That ad drew a nice response and we were off!

Over the next few months we bonded and learned more about each other as tends to happen whenever a group of like-minded women get together. By then I had left my old job, (yet another giant and very scary step) and refinanced my house to give me money to live on. I needed to sort out exactly what I wanted to do with my life now that I had my degree. All I knew was that I wanted to work in some way in the field of adult education.

In talking with the group as we walked, I found out that one of the women worked for an organization called Elderhostel, Inc. I knew very little about the company, only that they developed educational travel programs for older adults, just like the ones offered by Interhostel, the company with whom I had traveled to Austria and Italy. The only difference was that at Elderhostel you had to be 55 to participate, while at Interhostel you only had to be 50, which is why I was able to travel with them back in 1996.

She told me about the company and then about an opening that was coming up. One thing led to another and at the end of August, 1999, I went to work for Elderhostel and found my perfect job. For the next five years, from their headquarters in Boston, I directed the Elderhostel Institute Network (EIN), North America’s largest educational network for older adults.

Although different from Elderhostel’s regular type of educational travel programming, but still supported by them as a kind of community-based division, EIN performs a valuable service for older adults. This network helps start new lifelong learning institutes or learning in retirement programs as they are sometimes called, for older learners at local colleges, universities, retirement communities and other venues.

We also provide resources to all these programs, help organize regional conferences, and promote communication between all the programs. Today we have 367 programs affiliated with EIN. It is a stimulating and enriching job that feeds my soul and helps me feel as if I have fulfilled my educational goals.

Next – New Hampshire

A New Life Journey…

So off I went to Austria and Italy, and had a fabulous time. While in Austria we attended lectures at the University of Innsbruck and I found I loved being back in the classroom. That combined with all the workshops and programs I had been taking back home with other women, solidified the desire that had been lurking in the back of my mind, under my grief, the idea of going back to school.

I had been thinking about becoming a grief counselor, someone who could help younger women with children still living at home, as was my case. Shortly after my husband died, I had tried in vain to find such a support group. This was in the pre-Internet days, and all I found were groups held in cold, clinical settings. I wanted a warm, cozy and informal living room-type arrangement where we could come together and work out the issues of our new lives. If I needed that, then I thought other women might too.

I felt that if I could go off to Europe on my own, then I could go back to school too! So, in the fall of 1996, at age 51, I took another big step and entered Cambridge College, an exciting , non-traditional, evenings and weekends-only college for working adults. What an environment! It was stimulating, invigorating, almost a fountain-of-youth for me, and it literally turned my life around. I emerged six semesters later, in 1998, with a Masters of Education degree. I had studied adult education and psychology, but I did not graduate as a grief counselor.

Instead, over those six semesters I had come to realize what being back in school was doing for me as an older adult, and I began looking at the power of adult education. Along with that, the passage of time was moving me beyond the grief stage of my life. I slowly realized that what I really wanted was to work in some kind of venue that promoted adult education, especially for older adults. What that venue was, however, still eluded me, and I continued with my job as the Assistant to the President of an old, historic Boston-area institution, while trying to sort things out.

One very unexpected and wonderful thing, however, did come out of that job. I met a gentle, caring man and we became great friends. We found our initial common ground thanks to yet another step I took. I had become a fan of the TV program – Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for Valentine’s Day in 1995, my kids had given me a huge poster about the show with a Valentine theme. Deciding to put it up on my office wall was not easy. Would people think I was nuts? But I did it anyway, and that led to the connection with my co-worker as he too was a fan of the same program.

From there our friendship developed and when in 1999 I decided to leave that job, he made his intentions clear. We were married on a hill top overlooking Boston in September of 2000. I was 55 years old.

The thought of getting married again was something I had never considered. I knew the statistics as a single woman were stacked against me, and I didn’t even date. My entire focus was on working with and being surrounded by women. So walking down the aisle never entered into my new life equation. But surprise, there’s that old maxim again – Life is what happens when you’re making other plans. How true!

Next – A New Job

What Led Up to the Book…

Follow your bliss! At age 61, I never thought I’d be living these famous words by Joseph Campbell. But when I realize that I’m doing the work I love from my home in the hills above a beautiful lake in New Hampshire, and that I’m sharing my life with a wonderful man - well, to me that’s bliss!

As a first-time author, I guess you could say that my whole life, and certainly the last 13 years in particular, have set the stage for the point that I’ve now reached. It hasn’t been easy that’s for sure. And there were times when I wondered what the heck I was doing. But I kept going. Persistence pays off, so they say, and I know first-hand that’s true.

Now, let’s take a short trip down memory lane to see what led up to my writing "Learning Later, Living Greater."

I married my high school sweetheart and by the time we were both 33 years old, our family was complete (one son and three daughters). Over the next 15 years we raised our children in one of Boston’s wonderful neighborhoods, and made plans for the future.

How does that old maxim go? Life is what happens when you’re making other plans, or something like that. Well, our plans for the future came to an abrupt halt early on a warm August morning in 1993, when I found my 48 year-old husband dead of a heart attack.

The shock and grief kept me in a kind of fog for the next two years. Thank goodness I still managed to go to work, but when I think back to that time it seems like I was on automatic pilot for most of it.

I tried all the usual routes for coming to terms with his death – grief therapy, life counseling, immersing myself in work, but nothing seemed to help put the pieces of my life back together or really help me wrestle with the idea of no longer being a wife, part of a twosome. As someone who was raised to believe that a woman’s primary role in life was being a wife and mother, the loss of my role as a wife was a huge adjustment and one that did not come easy.

Slowly, however, the fog began to lift, which is what the passage of time can do if you give yourself half a chance. As I struggled for a way out of my grief I slowly gravitated toward the support of other women, a very new thing for me. I began attending workshops, support groups, conferences and week-end getaways, all run by and for women.

I fully expected that this would be my life from now on, and I threw myself completely into this wonderfully creative and supportive environment. The work I’ve done over the years with women’s groups has been a powerful cathartic for me.

Then, early in 1996 I found myself thinking about travel. What I had noticed, much to my chagrin, was that ads for travel and vacations all placed heavy emphasis on “couple-hood.” It was very off-putting, to say the least, especially for someone who was still trying to come to terms with her new status as a single woman.

Then one day I came across an ad in a women’s newspaper for educational travel programs – programs where single women could feel safe and included. It sounded very interesting, and I sent for literature.

A short time later a large envelope of material arrived from Interhostel, an organization that ran educational travel programs for adults over 50. They were based at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

I spent hours pouring over all the program offerings and finally decided on a trip to the Austrian and Italian Alps. Why? I think because I loved the story of "Heidi" as a child. And, this particular program did not have a “single supplement,” that unfair charge assessed to single travelers.

Now I had never traveled alone anywhere, much less outside the U.S. I didn’t even have a passport! So this decision was, for me, a very big step outside my comfort zone. Little did I know at the time where taking that one step would lead. Today, I look back and can easily see that it was the start of my new life.

Next – A New Life Journey

Lifelong Learning in Your Later Years…
a Health Club for Your Body, Mind and Spirit!

Welcome! My name is Nancy Merz Nordstrom and this blog is all about the benefits of incorporating lifelong learning into our After-50 years, and where that might lead. For instance I have become a new author, for the first time, at age 61, thanks to my passion for later-life learning.

So, over the coming weeks, follow the story of lifelong learning for older adults and the steps that led up to the writing of my new book, "Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your-After 50 Years. "

This blog is a kind of behind-the-scenes peek at my involvement with later-life learning and what it took to get to the point where I could begin thinking about writing a book. Then, we’ll look at how that idea evolved from a dream to a reality. Finally, I'll chronicle the progress of the book, the writing, the marketing, the whole "Nine Yards."

Now, a quick word about "Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your-After 50 Years." It’s all about making lifelong learning a part of your later years - how it can enrich and enhance your life, and keep you connected, tuned in and productive, even after you are no longer working full-time.

"Learning Later, Living Greater" is a user-friendly, easy, breezy read designed to help you figure out if lifelong learning, and all it has to offer, should be part of your After-50 years.

The book discusses the benefits of lifelong learning, and its connection with the health of your brain, your mind and your spirit. We also look at three of the most popular ways to incorporate lifelong learning into your later years:

1. Lifelong learning in the classroom
2. Lifelong learning through educational travel
3. Lifelong learning through meaningful community service.

So, hang on! It’s going to be an exciting ride! By the time we’re through, you’ll be thinking of lifelong learning “After 50” as a kind of health club - a way to invigorate…

YOUR BODY! YOUR MIND!

YOUR SPIRIT!

Next – What Led Up to the Book