Life Imitates Art by Susan Van Kirk

 

Recently, I needed a happy, pick-me-up story to lighten my mood, and I remembered I’d recorded “Mr. Holland’s Opus” from a television station. It was released in 1995, and I’m sure I watched it then when I was still a high school teacher. While it’s a wonderful story for teachers, it’s also a five-tissue movie for an old, retired teacher. However, one of the scenes struck me as so true.

The teacher, played by Richard Dreyfus, sings a John Lennon song for his deaf son called “Beautiful Boy.” For a band director/music teacher to have a son who cannot hear is quite a blow to Dreyfus’s character, and it is certainly one of the threads of contention in the story. But then, Mr. Holland had never meant to be a teacher. He’d wanted to create gorgeous music, but circumstances turned him to a job where he needed to support a wife and family.

When he sings “Beautiful Boy,” this lyric reflects both situations: “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.”

And isn’t that so true?

This year I have two projects on my plate when it comes to my mystery-writing retirement plans. I’m writing a follow-up to my four-novel, one-novella Endurance series called Fabric of Lies, and I’m editing my first book, a memoir about teaching. The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks) came out in 2010, but since it was the first book I ever wrote, I thought it could use some editing. I also plan to re-write the introduction.

These are definite plans. Two books = retirement speed. After all, I like to play bridge too.You may recall that I just finished a three-book contract with Level Best Books for a series called The

Art Center Mysteries. I embarked on this new direction when I visited the Buchanan Center for the Arts in Monmouth, my small town, and became acquainted with its executive director. I’d never been involved in the art center before, but I soon found myself a member of its non-profit board. I love all the activities and events we host that encompass so many different areas of the art world: painting, sculpture, drawing, theater productions, musical evenings, books, classes, and partnerships with so many different areas of our community. The BCA has national, juried exhibits. We serve a wide swath of community ages, ethnicities, and cultures. It is a gem in a small, midwestern town of 10,000.

After three years on the board, it was my turn this year to be president. Shortly after that change in my life, our executive director left for a new job. I’m overjoyed for her because it is an opportunity she could not pass up. However, I find myself no longer retired and working to keep everything going well at the art center. And it is going quite well and smoothly, but only because two staff members, a board, and I are doing the amazing job she did mostly by herself. And she appeared to do it so easily. A search committee is looking for a new director, but in the meantime, I’ve written two chapters in my new Endurance mystery in six weeks. As time goes by, I will finish this book but not by March as I’d intended.

On the other hand, I find my “retired self” moving at a faster pace, remembering how to multi-task, and learning all kinds of new skills and information. I’m also meeting new people, a strange change of pace since I’ve been retired for thirteen years. I believe my brain is growing new synapses.

Eventually, a new executive director will show up, and my writing speed will accelerate. Regardless, I will produce both books during this calendar year. Yes, life is what happens when you’re making other plans, but in this case many of those changes are positive.