This new website is an example of reinvention. Breaking all the rules about not starting sentences with “I,” I am. This will help you know something about my life and values, and encourage you to speak up about yours, I hope. Reinvention—the reanimation of the soul.
I started my later school life as a Biology major but didn’t do well in some of the classes. Then I wandered into an English Literature class and fell in love—Byron, Shelley, Keats. It became my new major. But I realized (after graduating) I didn’t have the confidence to teach. So what now?
Marriage, anxiety attacks, typing manuscripts for others’ careers and therapy. My therapist helped me out from under the weight of insecurities. His faith in me allowed me to learn to believe in myself, and eventually I became a therapist at age 30. I learned about life and feelings from my clients. With supervision, I learned more about myself and my issues and how to help.
Ten years passed and I met a newspaperman. I had this idea about a column on relationships called, “Intimacy.” With his help, I started that weekly column in The Wichita Eagle which ran for five years—even after the move to Colorado Springs. I also started phone therapy with Wichita clients after learning that was happening in California.
In 2000, my husband, Jim Modrall, died suddenly. Grief ran my life in so many ways for the next two years. Then I met Bill Duryea. He played guitar as a hobby and for his kids, and serenaded me. Now, at age 56, I dreamed of learning guitar and singing with Bill.
A year and half of torture trying to learn basic guitar, and Bill and I were playing and singing together at home. I began to imagine how fun it would be to play in public. And we’d need a name. Bill named us THE STORYS. Beating the sidewalks and playing freebies, we gradually found paid gigs and fan friends. Eighteen years later, we’re celebrating 800+ gigs.
After the music got underway, I began to recall how writing the “Intimacy” column helped me feel like I was contributing. My therapy practice was smaller by design as the music grew. When I saw “Life After 50” in the store and that it was locally created, I went to the owners with a suggestion and question: a column about relationships, and could I write it? They said yes!
Fourteen years later, “Close Connections” was discontinued. It was a hard loss. But I wasn’t finished writing and helping. So a friend suggested continuing on a website. And here we are.
What I’m hoping you’ll take away from this article is that wide-open dreams and perseverance can make things happen—new things, different things, sometimes marvelous things.
Next time, reinventing YOUR self.