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Renee Langmuir was an educator for 34 years in public schools and at the university level. After an unplanned retirement, Renee chronicled her transition in a series of personal essays on the website, https://www.therookieretiree.com/. Her writing has appeared on the websites Agebuzz, Next Avenue, Forbes and in The AARP Ethel Newsletter.

Latest Posts By Renee Langmuir

8 months ago

What Happened to Your Reading Life?

My husband and I were a Match.com pair made in heaven. Twenty years ago, when we met, I was a public school reading specialist, and he was a rare book dealer. We clicked immediately at our first rendezvous, and we’ve been going strong ever since!

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9 months ago

1000 Weeks: How Should We Use Them?

If you are fortunate enough to reach the age of 65, according to the latest research on aging, your destiny might enable you to live approximately 20 more years, or exactly 1,040 weeks. Oliver Burkeman, the British/American author of 4000 Weeks…

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10 months ago

Meaning and Purpose in Retirement: A Surprising Sage!

Retirement Syndrome is a term used globally to describe the common feelings one might have upon retirement: disorientation, loss of identity, the fear of too much time on one’s hands, and possible feelings of isolation…

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12 months ago

Ancestry Travel: A Sobering Experience

It is not unusual for folks of retirement age to complete a bucket list visit to one’s ancestral home. My husband initiated this practice even before he knew me. In those days before the internet, on a trip to Scotland, he relied on the common phonebook…

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1 year ago

How I’m Using My Wedding China

As I was setting my table on Thanksgiving, I performed a familiar ritual. I released my “good China” from its lofty hiding place in the kitchen, along with the captive silverware in its sturdy wooden chest. It occurred to me that these plates…

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1 year ago

I Used to Be Scared of Driving But Am Now Wising Up!

I can’t think of any other physical activity in life which regularly pairs teenagers with the elderly other than driving. Every day, on superhighways and rural roads alike, cohorts of every age demographic follow, pass, and turn, without regard…

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1 year ago

Solace for “Never to Be” Grannies

Grandparents have had an outsized role in my life. No, I was not blessed with four doting “Grans.” I only had three: one disinterested grandparent who lived at the shore, and two who primarily spoke Yiddish and whose hearts were scarred by the Holocaust…

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1 year ago

Living as a Highly Sensitive Person in an Unjust World

According to Dr. Elizabeth Scott, highly sensitive people share “an increased sensitivity to physical, emotional, and social stimuli.” We are often called “too sensitive” by others. Count us out for violent movies and a too-hectic schedule…

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1 year ago

Stuck in a Groove? We’ve Been Primed to Create!

I have a confession to make. Writing this essay was painless. I did not have to cloister myself in a cabin in the woods, empty my calendar of obligations, or stay up all night. As a retirement writer, the ideas for most of my pieces…

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1 year ago

Looking Backwards: Nostalgia or Reflection?

Do you ever find yourself caught in a repetitive mental loop? It is not uncommon, with more time on our hands, to relive our careers or past challenges from our personal lives. Some memories are quite horrifying, but the sum of these experiences…

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