The End has never been my favorite part of a book or movie. I am usually not ready for the story to conclude. The End of a person’s life is the same, but contrary to books and movies which may have sequels, when life ends, that is the end of the story. The end of a lifetime of memories.
As I grow older and older, I am so happy to have this medium to try to preserve some of those memories, but some just cannot be put into words or put on paper. Emotions are hard to convey, although book authors are genius at doing that.
As I approach the end of my life, I find that I have accomplished quite a bit for a shy little girl from CT and OH. However, I never found the other significant person to make my life complete. Heaven only knows how hard I tried. I can’t begin to list the men who have passed in my life. Some significant ones, I certainly remember, but in retrospect, I realize how impossible those relationships were. Perhaps I wasted too much time on the impossibles.
Relationships
Sometimes those impossibles weren’t my fault. The occasional married man who lied about being single. Those were sometimes devastating, but they were what they were. Time moved on.
One impossible will always have my heart. He was an Indonesian from Bali. He was a Head Steward and Assistant Maitre de on the Holland American cruise ships. I met him on the first cruise that I took with my Aunt. His being on the ship allowed me to take many more cruises on my own. I had never traveled alone before. Kowing he was on the ship gave me the courage. Occasionally his ship would dock in San Francisco and we would have a brief visit while he was in port. Usually with a Chinese food lunch which was his favorite. Time and distance took its toll on that friendship. Time moved on.
Career
During the middle years of my life, I found my dream career. I learned to program large mainframe computers and had exciting jobs first with the US Navy in the DC area, and then with Atari among others.
I concluded my career working for two very unique companies. First DDA – Data Design Associates and then IVIS who purchased the financial software from DDA. Both companies were very small. DDA had less than 20 employees when I joined it. But DDA got to 100 employees before “the end”. IVIS was much the same, very small. With IVIS, they were on the East Coast and by then I was in Arizona. I worked remotely from my home.
Retirement
I am now in the twenty-second year of my retirement. I never imagined I would have all these non-working years. Not working never set very well with me. I tried Real Estate for a while, but I am truly not a saleswoman. I spent most of my Real Estate years working in the office doing contracts and financial computer work. But when I moved to Queen Creek, the commute became too much.
I tried doing nothing for a while but always found myself back on the computer. And I became fascinated with Online Marketing. Eventually, I took a very expensive course to learn how to do it. And, I did learn quite a bit — how to set up a website and how to advertise, but I didn’t have a product to market and still didn’t truly understand it all.
PBS
One day, by chance, I got a text message about another type of Marketing. I was already reeling from the expenses of my advertising and the course, so I was reluctant, but I made the phone call. That is when I found PBS – Professional Blogging System. That was three years ago and I’ve been doing it ever since.
I’m still not much of a salesperson, but I love the opportunity to have my own website and be able to write not only Marketing pages but also pages like this – Memory Pages. I am able to make small commissions from time to time and enjoy the camaraderie of the “family” here. Our weekly meetings are a chance for me to see other people without leaving home, which has become more difficult since the onset of COVID. I am fortunate to have a roommate and caregiver who makes my life easier, but I spend every day on my computer doing the various phases of PBS.
The End
So even though I am midway through my 86th year, I don’t see an end yet. I still have a lot more things to learn and accomplish and I’m enjoying every minute of it.