Refired in Retirement

My husband Rick and I met through his sister Mary Jo Emmanuel with whom I graduated from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, in 1975. While Mary Jo and I both found ourselves living in Boston, she introduced me to her older brother who was visiting from Tallahassee, Florida.

The spark of a long-distance romance brought me to Tallahassee in 1980. With degrees and early careers in applied social sciences, Rick and I together pivoted to pursue advanced degrees in unrelated fields. We entered and graduated from Florida State University at the same time—Rick with a Juris Doctor degree and I with a Master of Business Administration in finance. We then began and ended our 33-year professional careers simultaneously, working in Tampa, Jacksonville, and Pensacola, Florida.

In tandem, Rick and I retired in his hometown of Pensacola at the start of 2017. With no plans as to what would come next, as if by osmosis the stars aligned for me in unexpected ways. Just months after retiring, I came full circle to my start in social work. Committing to one year, I accepted a part-time project management position with the Florida Bar Foundation. In this temporary role, I worked with local nonprofits in the design and implementation of community experiments to bring legal services into the continuum of care for the area’s vulnerable population.

Research and writing had been constants during my post-secondary education and throughout my corporate administration and communications career. With a sudden vacuum of time once my social service stint expired, I unwittingly fired on all cylinders in this newfound retirement state. Rather than slowing down, I redirected the productivity that defined my professional career into a new phase of discovery and immense gratification. Who knew?

I know several people who genuinely fear the unknown of retirement without an image of what that future will look like. Then there is the vast majority of retirees in my circle who wonder how they possibly managed their former lives as they find themselves now busier than ever before. I gratefully fit into this latter camp as fortuitous circumstances continue to channel directed activity as if led by a higher force. Nine years in, retirement for me has been progressive and profoundly rewarding.

Without the luxury of downtime to fit boredom into my routine, this energizing retirement chapter has been accentuated by three “C’s”—namely creativity, curiosity, and contribution. Here’s how it played out for me.

Walking into the public library one day, I noticed a sign posted by the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce promoting both writing and photography contests. Given a propensity to record with words and images, I jotted down the details and went to work pulling together entries. As it happened, I won the writing contest and was pleased to see “The Overstory at Innerarity Point” published in the Chamber’s nationally distributed Perdido Key Area Guide & Business Directory in 2018.

With an extra step in my “penning” stride, I soon learned about three grant-funded writing workshops sponsored by Foo Foo Festival, an annual 12-day fall celebration in Pensacola that features high-caliber arts, culture, and musical performances. I signed up for the memoir-writing workshop. Presenter Katherine Clark addressed the genre of oral history writing by delving into the three books she had published. An author and oral biographer, Clark described the nuances and challenges she faced, including the 200 hours of conversations she had recorded with Pat Conroy before his death in 2016; My Exaggerated Life paints an intimate portrait of the renowned Southern author. I was enthralled by the mode of writing that captures one’s voice and life story in a candid, conversational style. Taking copious notes during Clark’s 1-½-hour session, I decided to give it a go on my own as a seemingly meaningful pursuit.

A friend of mine was approaching her 90^th birthday. I asked if she would allow me to capture an abbreviated oral narrative of her life. She agreed, albeit reluctantly. I arrived at the session prepared with questions, covering much ground with a tape recorder in hand. As I learned, Diane’s life had been relatively uneventful, colored with minimal drama. Her nine decades were defined by nurturing deep respect for family and a healthy lifestyle above all else. In that sense, I was struck by the power of a simple life well lived. Without her knowledge, I solicited input from Diane’s husband, children, and in-laws who amplified her enduring “love” story. Delivered on the day her family gathered from across the country to celebrate Diane’s milestone birthday, the spiral-bound booklet brought tears to my friend’s eyes. I considered it a distinct honor to memorialize her life story. Her reaction motivated me to tackle another oral record.

I targeted a fabulous story teller I knew as my next subject. In the midst of recording his history, I received a call from a mutual friend of Diane’s and mine gauging my interest in helping an acquaintance who struggled to get a book he wanted to write off the ground. A prominent Pensacola businessman, H. Britt Landrum, Jr. and I met to discuss his project and how I might help as his editor and motivator. This was new territory for me but I was open to the idea and we agreed to work with each other. Never taking an assignment half-heartedly, I went all in and discovered the creative side of writing as a developmental and copy editor. Seventeen months later, during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Landrum self-published Working a Better Way: A Fifty Year History of LandrumHR © 2020. With pride in my contribution on the editing front, I recommend the memoir to any business owner or leader as a case study in building success based on principled leadership. When Mr. Landrum and I parted ways, he hinted that he saw a book in my future. Who knew?

I could not have imagined what would come next in retirement. Literally weeks after Mr. Landrum released Working a Better Way, with barely enough time to contemplate “what’s next,” I received a providential call from a stranger, Susie Newcomb of Walnut Creek, California, which ultimately brings me to the present. Details of the fascinating story that led Susie to contact me and what I made of that call can be found in the blog posted on my website, “What Compelled Me to Write The Westcott Story” (https://www.christinebemmanuel.com/blog).

True passion does not begin to describe the drive that fueled my quest to write, publish and market my family’s remarkable 400-year history in America. Now five and ½ years fully invested, I credit the iterative steps that brought me to this point in my retirement journey. Unbeknownst to me, my working career prepared me well for what was to come, as did the writing contest, oral histories, and book editing that preceded my newfound status as a published author.

Innate curiosity and persistence coupled with intention have brought me to this point in 2026. Stepping out of my comfort zone along the way, I have tapped into my creative side as a writer, a space where I find excitement and genuine fulfillment.

These “golden years” hold profound significance, enabled in part by my patient and supportive spouse. A voracious reader, Rick reads as I write. In three short years, we will celebrate fifty years since the spark ignited in Boston. I am grateful on many fronts, not the least in finding purpose in this stage of life as a joint retiree.