Farewell to Still Blooming
By Kathy Hendricks
Now that we are both semi-retired, we both feel that we are still blooming – both individually and in our decades-old friendship. Through this new blog we hope to offer our own thoughts and prompt conversations around ways of shaping retirement, legacy, and a worldview after the age of 70. It’s a way of opening up a party line that includes all sorts of perspectives from those of you who are also still blooming and interested in staying interesting. ~ November 3rd, 2021
Almost five years ago, Barbara and I launched this wonderful endeavor. A year ago it came to an abrupt and sudden pause with Barbara’s death. I am still reeling from this enormous loss in my life. It is a loss felt by her sister, Teri, and the many people whom she touched with her wit, wisdom, and compassion. Just weeks beforehand, we had renewed our subscription to Wix, the platform upon which Still Blooming rests. Attempts to close down the account proved futile so the blog has remained intact all these months. I wrote one more piece – a tribute to Barbara – and, with Teri’s permission, posted Barbara’s self-composed obituary. After some queries from faithful readers about the continuation of the blog, I hadn’t the heart to continue it anymore. Now that the subscription has reached an end point, it is finally time to bid farewell to this lovely project.
I do so with mixed feelings. There is the continued ache over Barbara’s absence and the great conversations we had while planning out a loose schedule for postings. Our Zoom meetings, held every few weeks, were more of an excuse to chat than of actual work but we always managed to come up with fresh topics at the last minute. There is also regret around all of the topics she would have brought forward and the insights she would have shared. Along with the sadness, however, comes tremendous gratitude. Barbara generated the idea for the cross-conversation nature of the blog as well as the title and design. The latter included the “Pick of the Week” – a feature that many readers might have missed on the home page. Choosing a book, TV show, podcast, or blog that we each enjoyed was another aspect of our friendship. We introduced each other to new ideas and interesting points of view. In the end, perhaps we were the ones who benefited the most from this part of the blog.
Still Blooming launched the day after Barbara’s 76th birthday. She died two days before her 81st. I always thought it appropriate that she came into the world on November 2nd, the Feast of All Souls. The late John O’Donohue wrote that the body dwells in the soul and not the other way around, as we so often describe it. Such a concept broadens the possibility for connections beyond ourselves. The fact that so many people felt a bond with her speaks to the deep and beautiful soul in which Barbara dwelt.
It would not be appropriate to end Still Blooming’s run without a response, so here is an excerpt from a November 2022, blog that Barbara wrote to mark her 75th birthday along with one on the importance of wonder. I would say she succeeded in making the most of each day that remained to her. She kept blooming. May you, dear reader, do the same. Thank you for engaging with us these past five years. And thank you, Barbara, for the great conversations, laughs, and insights gained and shared. I will never stop missing you.
Response
By Barbara Radtke
This week I am celebrating my 75th birthday… For the most part, they have been 75 years of blessings with wonderful family, a supportive spouse, good friends, and exceptional companions in learning. When I turned 70, I felt the adventure of retirement stretching before me. With 75 comes a realization. This year I have a stronger sense that I have fewer days ahead of me than I have behind. This realization makes me savor every day as gift and finds a poignant edge to every joy.
…
Awe in life is not only in BIG events like seeing a meteor shower or a baby being born, but is also there in the SMALL, daily moments, too. In fact, it is a dimension of life that would be good to cultivate wherever I find myself. Maybe a good place to begin would be to look back on the day and try to spot all the places that were or could have been wonder-filled. Did I miss any of them along the way? This practice would help me in the future to recognize the opportunity for wonder as it presented itself. I hope that you, dear reader, will share strategies you have to find everyday awe.
©Photo by Ron Hendricks. Used with permission
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