Another Year, Another Birthday

Thursday is my xxxx birthday.  This has been a year of change for me.  First and foremost, retirement.  After many years as a speech-language pathologist, a career I loved, I finally decided it was time to leave speech therapy behind.  It was a bittersweet ending, but the beginning of new things to do and more time to do them.  I've given away most of my therapy supplies; now I have an almost empty closet.  I've started volunteering at Shriner's Burn Hospital for Children in Galveston.  As a burn survivor myself, this is close to my heart.  I've enrolled in a senior memoir class, which has been great fun, and where I've met a delightful group of people.  I'm facilitating a writing group at Angela's House for women who are transitioning from prison.  And last but not least, I had learned to play Mah Jongg, something I thought I would never do.  Tuesday is Mah Jongg day, and I look forward to playing and chatting with the women who used to belong to a grief group...but as we've navigated our new normal, we've changed our title to support group, and we do support one another.  All in all, it's been a great year and I'm looking forward to the next.