Wanted: A Fountain of Youth

Something I have discovered in my dotage is the absurdity that my appearance could match what is inside this aging corpus. I shun mirrors. Who is that older lady reflected in the glass door of the bank? (The door guard at the bank always directs me to the line reserved for pregnant, disabled and elderly people!) Is is that obvious? Isn't 65 the new 40? I'm nobody's granny, I still feel sexy - well, sometimes -- even though it is becoming obvious that nobody else thinks I am.

My new gig at Keiser University started a couple of weeks ago, and I simply love strolling the campus, smiling at the students, and feeling young and purposeful. Below is the entrance to the campus I use. The campus has rather tight security, which is doubtless comforting to parents of dormitory students.

I've been helping to put together a little writers' community blog to which students, faculty, and people in the local region are welcome to submit. (More coming on that soon!) I've gotten my tutorial toes wet with the first post by a Keiser student. I can relate to the difficulties of writing in a second language - my written Spanish is laughably literal. I hope I can be truly helpful, in a fair exchange for the positive dimension this arrangement has already given my life here. The campus is very tranquil and well landscaped, the staff and faculty have all been friendly and welcoming. I wish you could hear this burbling fountain! So calming...

And just before my home office, a little container garden:

Uh,oh... there's my reflection in the glass door of the Academic Support center...>>>

Isn't this a lovely campus?

Best of all, from my perspective as a neophyte Spanish speaker, Keiser is an English-language campus, with occasional signage to remind its denizens:

Now, about a date for the spring formal...

Back on Campus (and it feels so good!)

My mind is much taken up now with the impending visit by my pride and joy, who is finishing up his first year as a teacher. Apparently, there were so many snow days, the school year will last until the last week in June. Gabriel has promised to play the organ at my niece's wedding - which I sadly will miss -- and thereafter, wend his way to my door for a couple of weeks. I am beside myself with anticipation. One yearns so for the presence - the feel - of one's offspring.

Yesterday, I moved ahead with my desire to be useful, to make a positive difference in some small way, with a visit to Keiser University's Central American campus, just a few kilometers up the road in San Marcos. I learned that they follow the North American academic year, and things are quiet for the nonce until classes resume in September. Keiser acquired Ave Maria University just three years ago; as its former name suggests, it was a Catholic institution, and there is still a strong Catholic presence on campus, with a resident priest and a pretty chapel. Work on the chapel roof limited my view to its exterior only. The campus is compact and lovely, with several newer buildings and many plantings and neat landscaping.

I was made to feel very welcome indeed by the head of academic support, who has laudable goals for her programs that may well provide opportunities to be helpful. She introduced me to the librarian, who is a remarkable woman, very personable, and no doubt, in possession of many good stories to tell of her 36 years living in Nicaragua. Just imagine the transformative history she has watched unfold here.

After Gabriel departs for the States, I'll get back in touch about setting up a tutoring schedule one or two days a week. I already feel I have two friends at Keiser, and it is exciting to be flexing my academic muscles, modest thought they may be.

On the literary front, I have made a good start on Tolstoy's War and Peace, that hefty epic widely regarded to be the finest novel ever written. On deck is an even more ambitious read: Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.