October Coffee Share

Good morning, Everyone. 

It is a crisp October morning, the kind you need socks on your feet and a blanket around your shoulders as you wake up the house. Coffee is ready. Join me. 

If we were having coffee together, I would confess that I have not participated in a coffee share for several weeks. There is an abundance of lame excuses and a few legit. School began, and although I was happy to see my colleagues, greet kids with excited hugs, and have a structured day, I’d come home exhausted. I do not have a caseload since I will be retiring this month. I fill in where needed and have been getting assessments completed. I think the exhaustion is stemming from retirement anticipations. 

Friday was payday, and I realized that I would no longer draw an earned salary. Financially, my husband and I are Okay. It is just that a regular check from earned labor has been my normal since 1972. I have had a teaching or speech therapist position since 1979. 

There is a growing list of want-to-dos competing with the have-to-dos lists. I am going to have to structure my days. Home, hearth, and husband will still need a lot of attention. Then there are friendships, my daughters and grandkids and extended family relations to visit and plan adventures. 

I plan to refer to writing as work rather than “that nice thing Antoinette does.”  To date, writing has not drawn an income worthy of quitting the day job. But, I’m retiring, not quitting, so I can justify the time, sweat, and angst to work on the craft (but a little income would be nice).

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that next week starts a blog tour with Women on Writing (WOW). I am hoping it will give Hug Everyone You Know a sales boost. Though many of the stops will be virtual interviews and book reviews for Hug Everyone You Know, I have been given article writing assignments. Most of the pieces are how-tos or five steps or points to a writing process or cancer related subject. It is out of my comfort zone since I do not profess to be an expert or have the answers to most of the topics. It’s been a slow slog, but with deadlines, I somehow get it done and learn something along the way. Stay tuned for the schedule.

If we were having coffee together, I would announce that there are few sailing days left in the season. I started to get our little fleet of small craft sailboats off the bay beach and to my backyard. Yesterday, Matt and I took off on our Bella Vela catboat and sailed to Watch Hill—a Fire Island National Seashore gem. We had a beautiful day sailing, enjoying music and a rocket fuel drink from the bar concession, and sitting on the beach. The ocean was perfect, so I swam into the surf. Matt cast for striped bass that was reportedly in abundance early in the morning. Not a nibble yesterday afternoon. No worries. A sunset ride home completed our perfect day.

If we were having coffee together, I would report that we spent last weekend in the Pennsylvania Poconos with friends. We were four couples. Our friendships date back forty years when the men were freshman roommates at the University of Buffalo. Through the years, we have kept up with each other. The weekend was filled with a lot of laughs, lovely hikes through mountain trails, wineries, and breweries. What will we plan for next year?

That’s it, folks. Thank you for reading.

As always, BIG THANK YOUs go out to, Eclectic Alli for managing Weekend Coffee Share.

Have a good week, Everyone. Make it great!

Antoinette Truglio Martin is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. The memoir is a wimpy patient’s journey through her first year of breast cancer treatment.

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