I have been married for close to 50 years, have three grown children, and 5 grandchildren. I have an MSW (social work) and a Ph.D. (clinical psychology) that allowed me to do very rewarding work before I retired in 2010. The work that I enjoyed so much involved being a mental health therapist along with a college professor and department chair. That part of my life feels like a long time ago. I am in the process of recreating myself yet again – this time because a chronic illness turned my life inside out. A very important factor in my ability to heal, physically and psychologically, has been my faith in God, who guides me and provides strength. My faith and my education have combined to form the belief that we have an amazing capacity to heal and grow if we look for and use the gifts that are available to us.
I value relationships, human development until our moment of death, social justice, world peace, and intellectual stimulation. I enjoy time with the people I love, being creative, reading books, writing, travel (including camping), quilting (especially piecing), and good food. I don’t enjoy exercising (but I do it), deciding what to have for supper (my household task), housecleaning (my husband does most of it), or being around people who don’t play nice.
8/2/12 Update as I am recreating myself:
I have allowed my long-denied desire to take photographs to emerge as an extension of my blogging activity. What a joy. I am looking at the world differently and having fun trying to capture the images of life in a meaningful way. The evening news presents so much ugliness and the antidote to this is seeing the beauty of God’s grace in people and nature through my photography. In this I have found new meaning for my life. A side benefit of photography is that it gets me out and moving as I explore the world with my camera.
A New Day: Living Life Almost Gracefully 
Hey pat! Some days ago you had a beautiful picture of peach orchids on your post. I fell in love with it! Would you mind if I used it for the wallpaper on my laptop?
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Please do. I am honored and hope it brings you lots of joy.
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What a beautiful About page. I was in the process of reinventing myself, too, when I suddenly got blindsided with Myasthenia Gravis. My life is chaotic right now as we’re trying to sort everything out. It derailed a two-year planned-for cruise around the British Isles, and my world just feels so out of control right now. My faith has undergone quite a testing and change in the last few years and though I’m surrounded by a great church family and tons of prayer and other support, I am really struggling to get through this. I appreciate the follow and look forward to seeing you around the blogs. 🙂
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My heart goes out to you because I remember so clearly the pain of feeling like my life had fallen apart and not knowing who I was. I kept years of journals as a way of recording and making sense of my life – also as a way of venting my fears and anger, and small gains. It may help to know you aren’t alone in your journey – you might find something of interest under the topic of Fibromyalgia in the dropdown menu on right side of my blog. When I developed the symptoms of FM, they were exactly like the symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis so I was sure that was what was wrong with me. I know that God is crying with you as you face the chaos of finding a new way of living. Consider yourself hugged.
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Hi Pat, thanks for stopping by Beauty Along the Road, which brought me here to your site. Yay, another retired clinical psychologist – I’m always amazed how many mental health people (retired or still practicing) end up blogging; somehow we seem to find each other. And, yes, breaks from the political scene are so important to recover our own sanity 🙂
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Blogging and sharing experiences with other people through this media has been a great help in adjusting to retirement.
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yes, it can be very rewarding and inspiring. There are some wonderful people in the blogosphere…
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It does change perception—viewing the world with a camera in hand! Your photos are beautiful. I know what you mean about chronic illness turning one’s world inside out. Hard to deal with something that just doesn’t resolve.And I totally agree about the news…all of the constant negativity is just not good.
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Thanks for your supportive comments. I am taking a vacation from political news this week-end and it is a real joy. I decided that the U.S. won’t collapse if I take a little break. 🙂
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We have a saying in our photo house….If you don’t look you won’t see it. Have fun
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