email: [email protected]
Welcome! I moved to Nashville with my husband several years ago. Saying goodbye to Houston and starting over in a new city was not the script I had written for myself at 50+ years of age. I left behind 20 years’ worth of friends and activities, and I feared it would be HARD to come to a new city, meet people, get involved, and find a comfortable space.
My relocation-reinvention WAS hard, and the move was challenging and scary. Attempting to satisfy my intense need to meet people and create a social life, I devised a project for myself. Each day, I vowed to do one new thing that would help me settle into my surroundings and find friends—walk through a neighborhood, explore a shop, reach out to someone at the gym, volunteer. And, each evening, I felt accomplished for having done something that I hoped would eventually help this place feel like home. Sure enough—very slowly, and step by step—I started settling in. It was a huge day when, for the first time, I ran into someone I knew at the grocery store!
It took a big life shift to help me realize that learning and doing new things are good for the mind and spirit. I still try to find something new and different each day. My blog and podcast are the products of talking to people and learning from them. In each episode and story, you’ll learn about ordinary people and their mistakes, risks, and journeys. My conversations have prompted me to dive into things unknown and expand my curiosity. We can all learn from each other. I hope these people will make you want to explore new territory and broaden your horizons.
By the way, I now love all things Nashville. I also love a great pair of shoes, tulips, and long walks on the beach. Reading historical fiction, playing golf with my husband, traveling. Dark chocolate, skiing with my boys and daughters-in-law, red wine with my girlfriends, decorated sugar cookies. The Purdue Boilermakers. And Darius Rucker and all 4-legged mammals.
If you have someone YOU’VE met, and you think I can learn from their story, please let me know how I may contact them. Thank you. And thanks for being here!
Hi Pamela,
I’ve subscribed to your blog for about two years. Over that time, I have enjoyed reading your guests’ stories and how they do life. I love reading the stories of perserverance. My life recently took a complete turn-around when my contract to come back to the school that I called home for thirty-one years was not renewed. I have been in education for a total of forty-three years. I began to think of a way to reinvent myself, make myself marketable. I doubted my worth, but persevered and now have a job with the school district. I have learned new skills, made new contacts and ventured into unknown territory. While our son was finishing up his degree at the Citadel, his girlfriend lived with us to help with her commute to her job at MUSC Cardiact Rehab Center. We lived closer than her parents, making her commute 40 minutes instead of two hours. Seven months after our son graduated, she called off the relationship just as he was ready to propose. I never expected to experience grief over the loss of our relationship with her, but I especially have. She was as close to a daughter as I could have imagined, and having her in our home reminded me and my husband of having our own daughter at home, who is now grown and married. I say all of this to show that life is unpredictable, but we have to just take that first step into unknown territory when we are hit with change. I still miss our son’s ex-girlfriend (that’s really hard to write) and the teachers and students at my old school. Our son, our last fledgling, will leave our home soon, which brings another change and possibly grief. If I have learned anything, I guess it would be that grief is a normal part of living. Some people do grief well, and others not so well. One way that I have healed in this unsettled life and world, is to write poetry and short stories based on family stories and on what I may be going through at the time. Words can heal. Your blog and your book, that I just ordered, help in many ways to deal with change by showing how you do life. Thank you for your words. Thank you for authenticity. Sharmen