{"id":15660,"date":"2025-01-21T19:26:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T19:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=15660"},"modified":"2025-01-22T13:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T13:16:00","slug":"profile-retirement-sparks-a-new-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/winter-2025\/profile-retirement-sparks-a-new-chapter\/","title":{"rendered":"PROFILE: Retirement Sparks a New Chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lifelong Educator Brings Classroom Wisdom to Children\u2019s Books<\/h3>\n

By Terri Lilga<\/p><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he inspiration for my next chapter didn\u2019t arrive in a grand moment but grew gradually, like the hum of bees in a summer garden. The idea had been there for years, quietly gaining momentum until it became an undeniable drone in my thoughts.<\/p>\n

I had been a happy, dedicated, and enthusiastic elementary school educator for thirty years. Yet, some thoughts and factors had me leaning toward retiring . . . An inviting district incentive which would temporarily contribute to my post-retirement healthcare . . . Paradigm shifts in educational philosophy and practice. . . The lure of spending more time traveling.<\/p>\n

So, while acknowledging that I had enjoyed a wonderfully fulfilling career, I felt it was time to move on. And so, I retired.<\/p>\n

Retirement brought a warm sense of accomplishment, but it wasn\u2019t without some doubt. Am I really ready? What will I do with all my time? Colleagues, family, and friends seemed unified with a singular question: \u201cSo, what\u2019s your plan when you retire?\u201d<\/p>\n

Plan? My \u201cplan\u201d was not to have one. After all, wasn\u2019t that the point of retirement? To be a free agent – free from contractual obligations, free from an overly structured day, free to do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it?<\/p>\n

Well, the novelty of my \u201cnon-plan\u201d wore off pretty quickly. I missed the kids and their families. I missed interacting with my colleagues. I missed my career purpose, which I knew would be mine even at a relatively young age. I missed teaching! Idea sharing. Kids\u2019 intellect, confidence, and maturity developing throughout the school year. Engaging in our studies and discussions of the literature we shared; engaging with books!<\/p>\n

And then a new idea began to take shape.<\/p>\n

For years, I had dabbled in writing children\u2019s literature. I had a small collection of manuscripts\u2014some nearly finished, others just fragments of ideas. Occasionally, I would revisit them, tweak the stories, or dream of publication. So, writing with the goal of publication has always been a part of my retirement equation to some extent. However, I soon discovered that dabbling in writing for publication as a \u201chobby\u201d vs. pursuing it as a second later-life career were two very different goals.<\/p>\n

Real-Life Inspiration<\/h3>\n

At first, I continued to tiptoe around the idea, unsure if I still had the energy for such an ambitious goal. But then, I started noticing more and more new children\u2019s authors making their debut locally and nationally. Their stories were being featured in trade magazines, and their books were being celebrated.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, it felt less like I was chasing a writing career and more like it was chasing me.\nI started to count my assets. I had spent thirty years immersed in children\u2019s literature, learning from the experts\u2014the kids themselves! My students had been my most valuable resource.<\/p>\n

We had discussed in depth our favorite story parts, conflicts, resolutions, main ideas, and favorite characters. We marveled at the illustrations and applauded the happy endings. We understood that characters could of course be people, but also animals, fantastical creatures, or even things who often make mistakes but learn from them. We discovered the transforming magic of a really good adventure, which allowed us to have experiences we might never have known.<\/p>\n

With this wealth of experience, a new confidence began to grow. I asked myself two simple questions: Why not my books? Why not now?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad I answered the call.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Terri Lilga. Photo courtesy of Terri Lilga<\/p><\/div>\n

A Retirement Dream Realized<\/h3>\n

In the fall of 2023, my first children\u2019s book, Santa\u2019s Simon, was published.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing quite like the sense of accomplishment I feel when I visit a classroom as a visiting author. There is nothing like reading my story to the children gathered before me, expectantly waiting for me to begin, then seeing the characters, adventure, and vision I created come alive before them.<\/p>\n

When we get to the \u201cBook Talk,\u201d and I ask, \u201cWho\u2019s your favorite character and why?\u201d\u2014and hands shoot up into the air\u2014I know without a doubt: it\u2019s never too late to pursue a dream.<\/p>\n

Terri Lilga, a native of Western New York, lives in the Village of Hamburg with her husband Pete and their lively mini-golden doodle, Sushi. After a fulfilling thirty-year career as an elementary school teacher in the same school district from which she graduated, she rekindled her early passion for writing children\u2019s literature.<\/h5>\n
Her first children\u2019s book, Santa\u2019s Simon<\/em>,<\/a> was inspired by her desire to write a Christmas book with a unique twist, but mainly to highlight a message of faith, courage, and the transformational power of kindness. In addition to writing, Terri loves to travel and has visited Egypt, Botswana, Poland, Spain, and Cozumel, where she had a bucket-list opportunity to swim with dolphins. Her second children\u2019s book, There\u2019s a Hubbard In My Cupboard<\/em>, is coming in 2025!<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lifelong educator brings classroom wisdom to children\u2019s books … a retirement dream realized<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2025","category-winter-2025-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15660"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15939,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15660\/revisions\/15939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}