Story Share - Navigating Endings: Stories of Retirement, Heartbreak, and Reinvention

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Jacqui Just Chatters, host Jacqui Lents delves into the theme of endings. The show features three poignant stories about the emotional complexities of concluding chapters in life. The first story by Debra VanDeventer explores the intricate emotions of retiring from a teaching career. In the second, Karen Ford shares a raw and heart-wrenching personal tale of a Valentine's Day breakup. The episode concludes with Marilyn Baird Metz, M.D., who discusses her journey of finding a new purpose post-retirement from a long medical career.  Info/links from guest or topic:Debra Van DeventerFacebook: www.facebook.com/seamslikeastory Blog: seamslikeastory.com Amazon Author's Page: amazon.com/author/debravandeventerBio: Debra VanDeventer, a former educator who now channels her creative energies into writing.  Her style can best be described as creative nonfiction as small moments bloom into words. She has just released Until Italy: A Traveler's Memoir. Her story is an excerpt from her first book, Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life.Karen FordAmazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Karen-Ford/author/B00WOZ5TKA?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=trueBio: Karen Ford is the author of Thoughts of Fried Chicken Watermelon Woman,  a collection of essays on race, gender, religion, politics and every day issues. She is a member of the Authors Guild and the Chicago Writers Association. As a freelance journalist for over 20 years, Ford has written for a number of local, national and international publications including the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Parent magazine, the Citizen Newspapers, Screen Magazine and Lutheran Woman Today.  In March 2011 Ford was awarded an International Women’s Award by the Women’s Information Network for her community and labor related work.  She received her BA with a focus in political science and her MS in public service management from DePaul University. Karen Ford is married with four children and resides in Chicago, IL.Marilyn Marilyn Metshttps://www.pdidocwriter.com. Bio : Retired pediatric ophthalmologist and an avid birder, Marilyn Baird Mets MD has been administering medical and surgical care to the eyes of the children of Chicago for the past several decades during which time she has been considered a Top Doctor by multiple agencies. She is now, an Emeritus Professor at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. The petals of a rewarding medical career have closed, only to reopen as a fiction writing blossom. The product of which is her first novel, “Code Pink”, (published September 2023 ). In this, her goal is to entertain, and inform with an insider’s view, the challenges of coming of age in medicine loaded in a medical thriller with a twist of historical fiction.Do you have a story idea or thoughts about the episode? Connect with Jacqui at the following.www.JacquiLents.comFB: Jacqui Lents Author https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069970208082 IG: @JacquiLentsYouTube: @JacquiLents Music used for this episode includes –Ratatouille's Kitchen - Carmen María and Edu EspinalfoundAlways – NesralityTangled Heart – Life is nurulHappy Family Life – Top FlowBeach Walk - Unicorn Heads