What are you going to do in retirement? This is a question that everyone will ask you when you announce that you are leaving a life of employment. I suppose that the most common answer is, “I don’t know.” How could most working people possibly think beyond what they need to do just to get through the day? There is always so much on the to-do list.   

One of my retired friends got caught up on fixing things around the house, found himself bored and went back to work again within a year. Some of my friends have traveled a lot and posted Facebook and Instagram pictures from exotic locations. Most of the people that I know just find things to do to get through the day. I have days like that myself. Quiet, simple and easy. Others have had to retire due to health reasons. Their lives center around medical visits and trying to heal. I have kept busy by hosting an annual summer community garden and making maple syrup from my trees in the early spring. During the warmer months, my wife and I travel back and forth from the old family cabin in north Wisconsin. Life in the Northwoods is peaceful and full of summer-related fun.  

My journey to retirement was not an easy one. I had to endure and overcome childhood trauma during an era of our history when mental health issues carried a stigma for your family. I worked many jobs to earn enough money to go to school. I studied the sciences and got a job out of school working for Abbott Laboratories, a large pharmaceutical company. The division that I worked in required us to put in 70 to 80-hour work weeks. The pace was brutal. I saw friends twitch out from the pressure. I lived on caffeine. I barely slept. Somehow, I found the mental space to fall in love, get married and have children. Within this framework, I raised two girls and survived daily life. Imagine going from this scenario straight into retirement. What a shock. It took my brain about 5 years to get out of panic mode. That’s when I found my calling: a life in the arts.  

I have dabbled in the arts in the past. I tried to learn guitar and quit, twice. I studied dance in college and performed with the SIU modern dance company. In 1996, while my daughters were studying dance and music at Dancenter North in Libertyville, I began performing in their annual edition of the “Magic of the Nutcracker.” This year will be my 30th year in a row as a Nutcracker performer. October through December is officially Nutcracker season in our home with busy rehearsal and performance schedules. It is a time of great joy that uplifts the spirit. There are endless moments of magic and camaraderie while hanging out with my performance family. If only this joy could be found year-round. That’s when I started music lessons at the Adler Arts Center.