Sometimes others may wonder how someone felt later in life and if he or she was happy.
I have had a great, incredibly lucky life.
I never regretted retiring from teaching at 52. What I called my ‘Freedom 52’. I had accomplished all that I wanted to in teaching a few years before that. (Personal freedom, in many forms, and living life on my own terms, have been two of the basic values and accomplishments in my life.)
We all have teachers and profs that influenced us. Mine was a long list of interesting, caring people. For the record, a ‘60s TV show, Mr. Novak, and the movies Blackboard Jungle and To Sir, with Love were influential.
That I was destined to teach English for 30 years stemmed from an early interest in my Dad’s very modest library, my first trip alone to a public library during the week of my grade 12 departmental exams in my hometown Winnipeg, the offbeat quirky English teachers and profs I had (I was that way myself), and the fact that the only university courses I was interested in taking were in English and literature. Once I began reading seriously in university there was no way back and my teaching specialization was set. In later years I went full circle with books and reading via collecting.
For over 30 years, I was also an English Language Arts (ELA) textbook writer and editor, producing well over 60 books and guides. I sold over a million copies and had my works used, through shared multiple use, by five to eight million grade 10-12 students across Canada.
For the same length of time, I overcame a fear of public speaking to groups of adults and peers long enough to give hundreds of teacher conference presentations and speak to thousands of teachers and educators. I would have personally taught approximately another five thousand students as well.
Earlier in a period from 1969 to 1975, I was a folk singer and leader in various folk and popular music groups, usually singing lead vocals and playing rhythm acoustic and electric guitar for hundreds of gigs playing for thousands of people from teens to older adults. In 1975, I was at a point in which I could have continued playing regularly and done more songwriting and become a Neil Diamond-Bruce Cockburn type of performer, but I made two choices, instead: to return to Edmonton for the security of a teaching career in the city, and to focus more on my life with Karen and being a father to our first child Heather. PS/I made the right choices.
That I had chances in teaching to play for many kids and teachers, especially in Fudge with Ken Klause, were a big bonus. I also got to explore songwriting and recording more with a high school buddy from Calgary, Wayne Fraser, and my work was praised by Jack Richardson (producer of The Guess Who), Glen Campbell’s manager, and Rita McNeil. I might have been done with songwriting, but teaching, the book writing, and family took precedence. Did I say I was a lucky man?
Lucky in many other ways. Lucky to have had two supportive parents. Lucky to have been university-educated as a way out of the limitations of relative poverty. Lucky to have had a career teaching favourite writers and books. Lucky to have had fun and something of a career via music. Lucky to have met so many great people – Gerry Lawson (my film friend), Glen and Jerry Wowk (my cowriter friends), the legend of Dean McKenzie, Stu Millman, and Ken Klause (my music friends) – and numerous great, supporting friends and contacts in business and service.
Karen remains the best thing that ever happened to me. Relationships are not easy as you know. Most are imperfect, troubled, and conflicted in various ways. I got very lucky the day I met Karen. There was never going to be another life partner possible. A very obvious choice. You know the feeling: ‘That’s the One.” If you know Karen, you are very fortunate. She is the nicest, friendliest, most caring and loving decent person you possibly know. She has been the greatest support and supporter of my life. I could have done nothing without her many kind indulgences and sacrifices along the way. In fact, I would not likely have remained married to anybody else and may not have lived as long as I did without her. How could anyone miss with Karen? Did I say I’m a lucky man?
Our kids. Scott and Heather. Heather and Scott. The best. Amazing individuals in their own right with great integrity. The list of characteristics, like Karen’s, is a very long, unremittingly positive one. They both ended up with unique careers after attaining degrees at the University of Alberta, and have successfully pursued all their dreams to completion. Not everyone is so lucky with how their kids have turned out. I have been very proud of how my children dealt with adversities and achieved their own various freedoms and goals.
The rest? Myriad details and moments of being. Meeting many famous people and reconnecting as fully as possible with my past. Whatever I wanted to do, I did and accomplished. Whatever didn’t turn out I have been very philosophical about.
And there were many “I never thought I’ds”.
I never thought I’d have a career, own a house, drive and own a car, find the right person (Thank you, Karen), have kids, sing and play music for crowds of people (1,000 at the 1970 St. Boniface Voyageur festival – opening act), write successful prize-winning poetry, write books, be a postman or nursing orderly or film classifier, be a grandparent, be alive past my 30s, survive a few encounters with death, become a book collector, go to Boston, see Robert Frost’s and Emily Dickinson’s homes, get Type II diabetes, look after flowers and a garden, retire, etc.
At any rate, yes, I have been very happy and led a rich life. Did I say I was a lucky man?
