Guest Profiles

Granny basketball

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Just ‘cause we’re old, don’t mean we can’t com-pete,
And moving keeps us up u-pon our feet.
We still can pass and guard and shoot and we can e-ven score,
But we just don’t look good na-ked a-ny-more.

–Joyce Kitson, from the song We Just Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore
Granny basketball
Photo from Granny Basketball website

According to the official website of the Granny Basketball League, Inc., granny teams began forming in 2005.  Now, there are “more than 450 players on 41 teams in 10 states:  14 teams in Iowa, 9 in Kansas, 5 in Texas, 3 each in Missouri and Oklahoma, 2 each in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and 1 each in Louisiana, Virginia and California. New teams are continuing to form.” My youngest sister plays on a championship Iowa team. I never knew granny basketball existed until she started playing.

A very good player in high school, my sister started playing granny basketball a few years ago in her 50’s. The team she plays on, the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers, won the 2022 National Granny Basketball Tournament.

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Traveling solo in Van-Geaux

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Traveling solo has been around for years. Many articles and books have been written about it. Tour companies cater to the solo traveler. Senior solo travel expert Janice Waugh of Solo Traveler World “…estimates that probably 75 percent of solo-traveling seniors opt for a tour, but there are certainly some who choose to explore completely independently. ‘I think that as long as you’re fit and healthy and adventurous, then it works well,’ Waugh says. ‘Those who go independently, it’s very interesting to see the response of the world to them. It’s very welcoming.'”*

traveling solo
Cyndy Miller-Hughes and Van-Geaux

Cyndy Miller-Hughes, a friend and former colleague of mine, retired in 2018 after 32 years as an educator. She has been traveling independently since. I met up with her recently to examine her “new” way of traveling solo in Van-Geaux.

Sherry: What were you most looking forward to in retirement?

Cyndy: Travel

Sherry: I understand you purchased a small van for traveling.  Why this particular van?

Cyndy: It is just the right size, drives like a car, and has everything I need.

Sherry: Did you have it customized? 

Cyndy: It was built out by Cascade Campers in Nevada City, California.

Sherry: Does it have a name?

Cyndy: Van-Geaux…I went to grad school at LSU…Geaux Tigers! 

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Guest profile–Micheal

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Micheal – Living and working internationally in retirement

Micheal
Micheal hunting near his home in Colorado with his former companion, Lady.      (Photo by SLC)

BECOMING A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD

History, teaching, exercise, and hunting are my passions.  I retired from teaching history full-time and coaching at the high school level in 2012 because I felt I was beginning to just do a job instead of passionately working at my craft.  I was ready for a new challenge and I have always enjoyed the international experience.

While in college, I studied in Italy for a quarter and after graduation I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines for four years.  Living and working internationally was exciting, difficult and different from the norm.  That uniqueness is the reason I decided to teach internationally during my retirement as well as create a second income to supplement my pension from teaching in the U.S.

Read more about Micheal’s experience of living and working internationally during retirement