Late Bloomer

She's a late bloomer, a sweet Baby Boomer.

Her hair soft and silver as a mourning dove's wings.

After much joy and sorrow

She still dreams of tomorrow

And she'll take on whatever the rest of life brings.

There's a bit of a waltz...chorus? verse? Don't know yet, and I know it's not the final version. I already don't like part of it. And no, it's not about me. I'm not sweet, and my hair's not quite all silver yet, although it's turning fast. Late bloomer? I hope so!

When I was about 13, I asked for a typewriter for Christmas. And Santa brought me a used, upright Underwood, accompanied by a battered guide on learning how to type. I loved it and promptly taught myself to type. Foreshadowing?

When I prepared to go to the University of Missouri, my Strong Vocational Aptitude Assessment showed what I was best suited to be, in this order: artist, author, music performer, librarian. So what did I do? Studied Spanish (I have a knack for languages, and I've used my Spanish a lot) and education (I've taught many things, but never Spanish in a public school).

I guess some people know what they want to be when they grow up when they're that young, but I sure didn't. And college got to be too much fun to spend a lot of time worrying about a career path.

I never even dreamed of being an artist, at least not in the way you think about it. One of my brothers is, though. Has degrees in art. The other brother has a degree in music composition; actually, both are good musicians. I can't sing or play an instrument, so music performer was never an option. I love libraries and would like to work in one now (except they don't pay much), but I wouldn't have wanted to study library science when I was 17. Too boring.

Author. I've written many, many things, which makes me an author/writer, I suppose. But I've never written a book, other than some little phonics books and picture books for children. One is getting published on Kindle, but it was work for hire, so no royalties. I've written 4 unpublished screenplays; a jillion poems; a dozen song lyrics; and lots of short stories and poems and nonfiction articles for educational publishers. These were published but were also work for hire. As a freelance and an employed copywriter, I've written thousands of marketing and corporate communications pieces. Seems like my assessed specified interests have blended into different forms.

I figure when I sell a song, I'll finally have a real career. It's about time, doncha think? And I'll get royalties!