By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Until you have sat in front of a big camera and been the focus of a news story you haven’t lived. Since I believe that older people need to share their wisdom I was happy to sit in front of a local TV camera and tell my story—and a long lived story it is. I remember when in psychology class we learned about the varied lives that people live. I had difficulty focusing on just one thing that I do best because I love to do so many different things. What one finally chooses is dependent upon the guidance and support of the elders in the community. I am now aware of the influence that my teachers had over the years and a special neighbor whom I used as a sounding board when I was a teenager.

It wasn’t until I had already spent fifteen years as a teacher that I gained the certification to become an elementary school counselor. Being in on the establishment of the counseling program in elementary school was exhilarating. Early intervention is crucial in helping a young person to develop talents and find a path that will provide a work life that is fulfilling. And here I was standing at the threshold of a new career and helping to set up the guidelines.

In my lifetime I have done a myriad of tasks. When I was a teenager I helped the old doctor’s wife clean her house. I once sat in the office of a handyman as he was called. (Now I would prefer to say handyperson.) I answered the phone and took messages about coming to help open a lock that a person had no key for or to make a key for an old trunk. And, as you already know, I love to write. People ask me how I get my ideas for writing and I answer, “I sit down and begin and an hour later the column is finished and I don’t know where it all came from.”

People enter into a variety of occupations and hobbies. Some people box at the gym. Some people crochet. Others do macramé. Among other occupations, I write. When I was eight years old I wrote a great poem for my mother on Mother’s Day and I still have it. Everyone has some special skill or talent. It just takes time to realize what it is and to polish it. Nothing happens in a vacuum. Our minds are infiltrated with stimuli of all sorts that make an impression on us. It is well known that one’s health is improved by being involved in what one loves to do. Fortunate are the people who can find work that is specially suited to their interests and strengths. I was able to express all this when the KOMO interviewer came to my home along with a cameraperson to record my story and film me working in my office. (Hurray. And the cameraperson was a woman with that heavy camera on her shoulder.) And that is not all. That same evening the crew appeared at the Rendezvous where I was down in the Comedy Womb, as it is called, on the open mike stage doing open mike standup comedy which I have done for many years. Once before I was filmed after my husband died and I was still grieving. This time I was filmed along with my fellow of over three years acquaintance. I remarked to the interviewer, “Sometimes I feel like a bigamist as I still have memories of my late husband whose picture is still on my wall in my house.” Yes, there are many passages in every life. I never stop looking forward to the next stage in my life. Life isn’t over until it is over I always say. So keep moving forward to experience the surprises yet to come.