22
THE TOWER
JANUARY 2022
941.312.0665
FROM THE CREATIVE WRITERS WORKSHOP
www.DELTURA-HOA.com By Nancy Davy
Our Creative Writers Workshop is doing well, as several members have returned and we’ve welcomed new ones. Just a reminder: For those of you who like to write, or who may wish to try, please consider our group. We are meeting on Mondays (usually twice a month), and will continue to meet outdoors at the banyan tree. You can call or email me. My home phone (with an answering machine) is 239-599-4631. My email address is ndavy01@gmail.com. You will need to provide me with your name, your email address, and your cell phone number. I will text everyone with a reminder before each meeting, and ask for confirmation of how many will attend. I am planning on 1/10 and 1/24 at
11:00 AM for our January dates. Here’s a challenge from a recent gathering and some responses to it:
Challenge Two: Letter to My Future Self By Cindy Swisher
But time waits for no man, or woman, and here I am on the precipice of the unknown, afraid of what lies ahead and how I will react to it. So please, future me, promise you will not let us fall into the “I’m old, I can’t do anything fun, interesting, challenging, or insert appropriate adjective here anymore” mindset. Please promise that you will keep us looking forward even as we cherish the past. Promise that we won’t talk about every ache and pain and all the things that bother us about everything every time we gather with anyone who will listen to us – which will only be other old farts if we keep it up. Make sure we go to new restaurants, keep reading new books, plan visits to places we’ve never been, and most of all, remember to enjoy every day. Instead of
lamenting all that we’ve lost, promise me that we will appreciate all that we’ve had. And please, if you can, try to give us a break. No, we weren’t perfect – perfect wives, perfect mothers, perfect friends – but for the most part we did our best with what we had to work with. Remember, we started out with a lot of baggage and obstacles to overcome. Remind us that we tried. Forgive us for where we fell short. And most of all, try to finally learn to stop, take a breath, and just be. “If I knew back then what I know now” won’t ever change our past, but maybe, what we know now can have an effect on our future. Your younger, and perhaps wiser, self.
earlier this year, when there was none available in our own country. My husband and I will be excited to cross the recently opened land border into America and drive south into Upper New York State, then through Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and finally - arrive in Florida! Florida - the Sunshine State, the home of palm trees and orange blossoms; where the mockingbird continually sings, the Florida panther roams, the Manatee floats and the alligator lurks; it’s always good to have a bit of excitement in one’s life. Florida is the greatest state to
enter because in the past, at the Welcome Center they have given us a delicious drink of orange juice. We will both be relaxed as we drive down the highway to North Fort Myers and finally arrive at Del Tura and our happy, little home in that lovely gated community. We will greet cheerful neighbors and kind friends, who have made our lives in Del Tura so pleasant for almost twenty years. We will once again be delighted to be guests in that remarkable country - The United States of America - for yet another six months.
playing and you’re thinking that this can’t be very tough. Here is some insight from “10 years of golf later me”. Yes– the geometry and physics are easy – but your eye-hand coordination isn’t what it used to be! And those knees you used to take for granted are going to give you some real pain! Remember when you used to tell the young kids to “be patient – you’re growing up – next year you’ll be even better?” Well – guess what? Enjoy what you’re doing today – because Time Marches On and your body is not growing up – it’s getting old! I’m glad you are going to try golf. The frustrations of the game are so minor compared to the friendships you are going to make. You will find yourself spending hours in a beautiful park-like setting, surrounded by amazing birds, turtles and alligators. The old sounds of cars and trucks on your long commute will be
replaced by the chatter of squirrels and the cries of the Osprey. You will become friends with women from places you have never been. They will help you find the simple fun you had when you were very young. They will teach you to be a bit more patient. They will cheer with you when you get that little ball into that ridiculously small hole. And you will support each other as health and aging become more difficult. So “Younger-Me” – pull up those big-girl panties and sign-up for the golf league. You will not become much of a golfer, but your life will be so much richer for the friends.
needed to succeed academically and socially but we also knew that you would be facing a world that was not always kind. Most importantly, we taught you to always be kind, respectful, to share, to listen, and try your very best. So, one by one, you all happily set off on your new adventure, embarking confidently on the first of many school adventures. Through the smiles and tears we managed to get through that one last hug before the teacher lined up her little ones and marched them into her classroom. We never thought that it would be so hard to let go and entrust someone else to care for you for those few hours. I remember going through those mornings emotionally drained, counting the hours and minutes until dismissal…and that was only the first chapter of letting go of our babies! As you all progressed through those school years there were many lessons to be learned, on and off the playground. Those lessons, my dear children, were two-fold. We learned that as parents, we didn’t always
have the answers and we couldn’t always be there with you. So, we relied on our faith that we had given you the foundation needed so when you were presented with difficult choices you would make the right one. When your hearts were broken, our hearts were broken, too. Life doesn’t always offer us clear cut answers to our problems. You learned that right or wrong, lessons were learned. Within those choices, you also became a little bit wiser, stronger and more cautious as you progressed into adulthood. As your parents, we knew that there were things that we couldn’t protect you from in this crazy world…but we tried! Later in life, we realize that as young parents we were looking at the world through our rose-colored glasses. We wouldn’t want to change any of that at all! Our love will always be here for you, and forever you will still be “our babies.” Love you to the Moon & Back… Mom & Dad
Dear Future Self, I never thought I’d be here, where I am now, officially “old” – well, at least in the eyes of my grandkids and the 20 somethings I work with – waiting to step through the portal into old age. I was always the youngest, 12 and 16 years behind my siblings, and with a late November birthday, the youngest in all of my classes. (That was before there were cut-off dates. I think no matter when during the year you turned five you were eligible to attend kindergarten.)
Challenge Two: A Letter to “Future Me” By Karen Brennan Dear Future Me, Right now, I am thinking that very soon I will be leaving my own home and native land, which in the near future will be covered with ice and snow. At the end of November, I will be returning with tears of gratitude in my eyes to that wonderful country that gave us two doses of life saving Covid Vaccine
Challenge Two: Letter to Pre-Golf Me By Maureen Monroy Dear 10 Year-Younger me: You moved to Del Tura 11 years ago – and it has been a challenge. You certainly didn’t anticipate that retiring would be so difficult – and boy, are you missing your friends and family from up north! I know you don’t want to spend the next years lonely and isolated. Maybe it’s time to meet some new people – put names with some of those friendly faces who always wave as they go by in their carts. Gulp – you need to JOIN a GROUP! So, you’re thinking of taking up golf? I hear what you’re thinking – a bit of geometry, a pinch of physics – how hard can this game be? And I see you checking out the “old people” (in their 60’s & 70’s!) out there Challenge Two: A Letter to My Children By Dianne J. Roderick To Our Adult Children, It sounds funny for me to actually see the word “adult” in the greeting. In my heart and in my voice, I want only to hear the words “to our babies,” because you will always be just that in our eyes. It’s difficult to believe that the era of parenting all of you as young children came, and in a flash, you were all grown up and moving in different directions. Yes, it was our dream that you would all become independent young adults but at the same time letting go was not an easy task. The four of you were our world. Our lives centered around what was most important in your world. Knowing that those days would eventually change we told ourselves that we would be ready but; if so, why did our hearts hurt so much? It was like preparing all of you for your first day of school all over again! Yes, “letting go”...so darn tough! We knew in our minds that we had taught you the things that you
Challenge Two: Taking a note from the Letter Journal We are going to begin by taking a look-back over our lives, an exercise that many of us have had ample opportunity to do over the last two years when our lifestyles were restricted due to a global pandemic. Try to quietly review every age; all of the memories – the highs, the lows, and what you most remember for good reasons or bad. Take notes for yourself of what you find most memorable, and what you feel
you’ve learned on your journey. Then, choose one of the following: • Write a letter to your nineteen-year-old self (or younger, at an age you determine) • Write a letter to your children • Write a letter to your future self You may wish to send a message of important life lessons. You might, however, have a particular event that stands out in your mind that you wish to focus on. However you choose to respond, whether with humor or solemnity, let us, the readers, feel what you are feeling and be able to trace those emotions back to where they came from.
Have a Good Round! Older-Me