#GuestDayTuesday – Featuring Author #YvonneBlackwood

/ Marcia Meara

It’s #GuestDayTuesday once again, folks, and today, we have a wonderful post from our special guest, Yvonne Blackwood. I found Yvonne’s story to be both interesting and inspirational, and I think you will as well, so let’s get right to it. Yvonne, you’re on! 😀

Thanks, Marcia!

There is a maxim that says people come into our lives for a reason and a season. Influencers sometimes appear like genies without warning or explanation. We must recognize them and decide if we want to travel the road they try to lead us. I believe Olga was my genie.

Going Back to School is Good Medicine by Yvonne Blackwood

I had retired seven years, ending a thirty-seven-year banking career, and my life was advancing swimmingly, when I attended the inaugural meeting of a new writer’s group in my city. Olga and I were the first to arrive. We introduced ourselves and exchanged copies of one of our books. I became an author while working full-time.

At the second group meeting, Olga pulled me aside when it ended.

  “I finished reading your book. I enjoyed the story very much,” she said sweetly. “You know what I would do if I were you?”

   “What?” I asked abruptly. I detested people who offered unsolicited advice, especially when I didn’t know them well.

   “I suggest you do an English degree at the university. Nothing is wrong about your English, but I have that degree, and it helps me greatly to add texture to my writing. It will do the same for yours.”

I took a deep breath and slowly calmed down. Okay, advice about texture is not a bad thing. 

I’ve always felt that my writing was not textured enough, and I tried to improve it, but the writing courses I’d taken and the numerous books I’d read on writing had not helped to master texture. 

Why Go Back to School Now?

I pondered Olga’s suggestion for months, and thoughts of other potential benefits entered my mind. Dementia was ravishing more and more seniors every day. Dr. Sanjay Gupta quoted from the Alzheimer’s Association in his book Chasing Life: “When you’re sixty-five, there’s a one in ten chance you are affected, by the time you’re over eighty-five, there’s almost a one in two chance you have the disease.” Researchers concluded that exercising the mind could defend against dementia. I decided that my weapon would be pursuing an English degree. 

I learned that humans are social beings. Attending university would motivate me to get dressed and leave the house a few days each week to be with other humans. It would provide a consistent structure for the years of my studies. 

The fourth reason was to inspire my two young grandsons. I wanted to show them that you are never too old to learn and to encourage them to aim to attend university after graduating from high school.

 When you make a commitment, you keep it

I set a goal to earn the degree in six years, culminating with a memorable seventieth birthday party. Why six years? I was on a government board and three committees, was the head teller at my church, and was the emergency babysitter for my grandsons. I didn’t want to abandon those duties, but I wished to avoid stress and maintain a balanced life.

 Unforeseen hurdles appeared

My studies became like climbing a steep mountain. As I tried to reach its summit, I stumbled upon obstacles, including two strikes; the COVID-19 pandemic that caused the lockdown of the campus; hard-to-connect-with millennials; and the hardest one—a diagnosis of sarcoma cancer. I was hellbent on earning the degree and persisted because of my faith in God and strong support from family members, church family, and remarkable friends. 

More Than I hoped for

During my study years, the university awarded me the continuing education scholarship in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The Golden Key International Honour Society invited me to become a member. Devoted to helping its members achieve excellence through the advancement of academics, leadership, and service, the organization, with more than two million members worldwide, offers membership only to high-achieving university students in the top 15 percent of their programs. I was flattered to the tenth degree.

 I had nine credits remaining to earn my degree when I received a call from a radiologist to report to the hospital for five weeks of radiation treatment, five days per week. 

      “I’m doing a course at the university, and I don’t want to withdraw from it. Will I be okay to continue my studies while receiving radiation treatments?” I asked.

      “Radiation will not affect your brain,” he said. We both laughed. “You can continue your studies.”  

Hospital room classroom.

Six weeks after radiation treatments ended, I underwent a thirteen-hour surgery to remove the sarcoma tumours from my right thigh. I could not walk unassisted and spent two months in a rehab hospital. I continued my studies, and every day nurses pushed me in a wheelchair to the tall, broad windows at the front of my hospital room. They brought me my over-the-bed table, laptop, notebook, and pens. I sat there and Zoomed into the lectures and completed all my assignments. The nurses nick-named me “The student patient”. 

I am ecstatic that I took on the challenge and climbed the mountain. College Life of a Retired Senior: A Memoir of Perseverance, Faith, and Finding the Way will inspire and motivate you to pursue your dreams. It was recently released and is available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and other major booksellers.

BLURB:

Seven years after she retired from a lengthy career in banking, Yvonne Blackwood surprised her friends and family by returning to school at age sixty-four to pursue an English degree. Her purpose was fueled by four powerful reasons—to add texture to her writing; to ward off dementia; to enhance structure in her life; and to inspire her two young grandsons to continue their education after high school. But as she stepped onto the campus of Canada’s third-largest university, Blackwood had no idea of the hurdles she was about to face.

Author Yvonne Blackwood

Yvonne Blackwood is the author of four adult non-fiction books, Into Africa: A Personal Journey, Will That Be Cash or Cuffs? Into Africa: the Return, and College Life of a Retired Senior: A Memoir of Perseverance, Faith, and Finding the Way. She has also published three children’s picture books: Nosey Charlie Comes to Town, Nosey Charlie Goes to Court, and Nosey Charlie Chokes on a Wiener. An award-winning short-story writer, Blackwood has contributed stories to several anthologies, including Human Kindness, Canadian Voices, and Wordscape. She has published articles in magazines including More of Our Canada, Adelaide, InTouch, and Green Prints and has written columns for the Toronto Star, Pride Newspaper, and The African Connection.

You can Buy Yvonne’s Book Here:

College Life of a Retired Senior: A Memoir of Perseverance, Faith, and Finding the Way – Kindle edition by Blackwood, Yvonne. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

“College Life of a Retired Senior” | eBook and audiobook search results | Rakuten Kobo

College Life of a Retired Senior: A Memoir of Perseverance, Faith, and Finding the Way by Yvonne Blackwood, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Yvonne Blackwood Books – BookBub

 You Can Find Yvonne on Social Media HERE:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Website
Email: eblack2@ymail.com
Cell: 416-333-5936

47 thoughts on “#GuestDayTuesday – Featuring Author #YvonneBlackwood”

  5. Truly inspirational! It sounds as if you gained a great deal more than the degree itself. Many thanks, Marcia, for introducing me to Yvonne and her positive attitude to life. ❤ 🙂 ❤

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  8. I love Yvonne’s story. As a lifelong educator, there is no better reason to keep learning than to continue to grow while inspiring others.

    I don’t have many regrets in my blessed life, but I wish I would have appreciated more how brave my mom was to go back to school after she had raised her four boys. She graduated from college with a degree in social work the same year I graduated from high school. I didn’t understand her tremendous feelings of pride at the time until I later became a parent. I wish I could take my teenage self and counsel him to have a greater respect for what she accomplished.

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  9. I look forward to reading this. It reminds me that I wanted to go back and finish my English degree too. I quit half way to help the kids through college. Great post!!

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      • I’m so glad you’re enjoying the comments on your post, Yvonne, and I apologize for only getting partway through with my own responses. I’m running WAY behind due to some health issues slowing me down a bit, but I hope to catch up soon. I managed to “Like” all of them, but normally, I like to respond as well. (It’s actually great that you got so many comments I couldn’t keep up that day.)

        Hope you’ll visit with us again, in the future, and here’s to a great weekend! 😀 ❤

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