HAVE YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAD A BOLD MIDLIFE PIVOT, LIKE JEFF? I’d love to shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

In January of 2018, Jeff Alson gathered with his colleagues in the Ann Arbor EPA office for what they hoped would be a productive video call with their counterparts in Washington. For nearly a decade, Jeff and his team had worked closely with engineers at the Department of Transportation to write the federal automotive tailpipe pollution standards – one of the most consequential climate protections in American history. They expected to get back to work. Instead, a spreadsheet appeared on the screen.

Jeff had worked on cost-benefit analyses in this realm so many times he could recall key numbers by heart. But as he looked closer, something was deeply wrong. Every estimated cost had ballooned. Every estimated benefit had shrunk. The new study claimed the Obama-era pollution standards – rules Jeff and his colleagues had helped build – killed almost 1,000 people a year. The meeting, scheduled for an hour, ended in thirty minutes.

Three months later, Jeff retired. And then the real work began.

The Farm Kid from Indiana

Jeff Alson grew up on a corn, soybean, and Angus cattle farm in Rensselaer, Indiana. Always good in science and math, he was told he should become an engineer. But something else was developing alongside the technical aptitude: a political identity, a sense that he wanted to do something good for the world. Environmental issues were where those two threads came together.

He went to Purdue, majored in environmental engineering, and graduated in 1978 with straight A’s. The job that would define his career came about effectively by accident. He was dating a woman whose parents lived in Chelsea, Michigan. Driving along Plymouth Road in nearby Ann Arbor one day, he spotted an EPA facility out the car window. He stopped by in blue jeans and tennis shoes.

They were indeed. He interviewed on the spot. A week later he had a job.

Forty Years at the EPA

The EPA’s Ann Arbor lab may not be a household name but every vehicle sold in the United States has been shaped by what happens there. When the lab opened in 1971, no country in the world had successfully regulated car emissions. The science was settled that cars, powered by leaded gasoline, were major sources of air pollution. But the auto and oil industries – then the most powerful economic forces in the country – had blocked every attempt at regulation.

What followed over the next decade was arguably the greatest environmental achievement in history. The combination of the catalytic converter and unleaded gasoline, driven by EPA standards, reduced many key automotive pollutants by roughly 90 percent. Once America had set these standards, Europe and Japan followed suit. Jeff watched it happen, and then spent the next four decades building on it. He started as an engineer doing technical tasks and gradually moved into public policy. His final decade was focused on the greenhouse gas standards for cars and SUVs – rules that would become the most significant climate protection ever enacted by any country.

The Beginning of the End

Donald Trump took office in January 2017. His administration’s number one target on environmental regulation was the vehicle greenhouse gas standards – the very rules Jeff had spent his last decade building. For fifteen months, Jeff watched from the inside as the process he knew intimately was systematically dismantled. The EPA team was frozen out of meetings. The analysis was farmed out to the Department of Transportation, whose engineers lacked the EPA’s expertise and – as that January 2018 video call made clear – were producing work that Jeff and his colleagues considered fundamentally false.

He stayed long enough to see which way the wind was blowing. Then, in April 2018, at 62, he retired.

Learning a New Language

Four months later, the Trump administration published its proposed rollback of automotive emissions standards. Jeff took a look at the technical document on the EPA website and immediately saw the problems.

At that point, he had no relationships with any reporters. He looked up a New York Times journalist who had been covering the story and called her out of the blue.

She did not answer. He left a voicemail. Then he spoke with a journalist from an environmental newsletter who published the story first. The Times reporter called back and, by Jeff’s account, yelled at him for giving the story to another outlet before she could call him back. His career as a media source was off to a rocky start.

But Jeff is nothing if not persistent. He kept calling. He kept explaining. And gradually, reporters (even the grouchy one from the Times) began to understand why he was different from every other source they had: he was the only person who had helped develop the Obama standards, had been present in key meetings during the first fifteen months of the Trump administration, and was now free to talk openly about what he had witnessed. He had direct evidence. He had been in the room where it happened.

Over the next two years, Jeff did roughly 100 interviews with about 25 different reporters, including virtually every major national outlet. He spent 10 to 15 hours a week on what became, in effect, an unpaid second career. He taught himself how to talk to journalists, how to translate dense technical analysis into language a general audience could understand, and how to be quotable without being reckless. The pivot, he told me, was conscious.

The high point came when Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic spent months reporting what became the definitive account of the rollback (it may be behind a paywall) – a sprawling, authoritative piece anchored by Jeff’s perspective. The title came from Jeff’s own words: We Knew They Had Cooked the Books.

There and Back Again

When Biden took office in 2021, his administration restored the Obama standards and eventually strengthened them further. For a few years, the work Jeff had given his career to seemed secure.

Then came 2025. The new Trump administration moved not just to roll back the greenhouse gas standards but to eliminate the scientific endangerment finding itself – the foundational legal determination from 2009 concluding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. Without it, the EPA has no legal basis to regulate climate pollution at all.

In August 2025, Jeff testified at a virtual public EPA hearing. He was 69 years old, seven years into retirement, and still showing up. He testified:

As of early 2026, the EPA has revoked the endangerment finding and eliminated its vehicle greenhouse gas standards – making it, as Jeff notes with undisguised dismay, the only country in the world to have done so. Twenty-four states and multiple environmental groups have sued. The case will likely end up at the Supreme Court.

Jeff Alson spent 40 years doing the technical work that nobody sees, in a lab in Ann Arbor that most people don’t know exists, on standards that reduced pollution for every vehicle on every road in America. When the moment came to defend that work, he picked up the phone in blue jeans and tennis shoes, just like he had 40 years earlier on Plymouth Road, and figured it out.

Random Rec of the Week

🎬 🍿 I am slowly working my way through much of director Steven Soderbergh’s work. Given he has directed 33 movies this is no small feat! Great movies of his include OUT OF SIGHT, OCEAN’S 11, KIMI, and BLACK BAG, there are so many. Even a middling Soderbergh movie is usually worth seeing because he’s such an elegant and efficient director. I recently saw the movie NO SUDDEN MOVE – which is about the (historically true) automotive industry collusion to suppress, yes, the catalytic converter! It is a great look at Detroit history with fab performances by Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, and others. The whole may not be greater than the sum of its parts, but the parts are very much worth seeing.

New or Catching Up

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! I write about late midlife reinvention: living somewhere new for a month each year, profiles of people making bold life changes, and my love of movies and Broadway.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: Hello, Act III!, Cleared for Takeoff at 60, Rome Reckoning: Hail Caesar!

• All past articles are collected here.

Clicking the little heart button 💗 at the top of a post or email, commenting, and sharing can help this newsletter reach more people.

Thanks, as always, to all of you for reading and engaging. Until next time!

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In September of 2024, Sue Strickland walked into a flight attendant open call knowing exactly what was about to happen. The room was full of younger, thinner women – the ones you picture when you think “flight attendant.” Sue was 60, a self-described “thicker person,” and she had exactly zero illusions.

She got the job. Here’s how.

Meet Sue

Sue is a worker bee. Originally from Michigan, she taught elementary school in a Detroit suburb for 30 years. Once she had her pension locked in, she retired at 51.

She then pivoted to higher education administration, first in Ann Arbor, and then in Utah, after her husband’s job moved them west.

But the Utah university job had stopped being fun. She wanted to go part time; they kept stalling. Meanwhile, the Social Security math was looming – she needed a lower income anyway. And then her husband Kahle said something that lit a fuse: after they retired, they wouldn’t be able to travel much.

Sue did not like this one bit. Her daughter had just moved to Dallas. Her first grandchild was on the way.

So she went looking for work that checked every box: lower income for Social Security purposes, a built-in way to get to Dallas, and something that actually felt like an adventure. She saw the open call listing for flight attendants from a large regional airline – the airport being seven minutes from her house – and was immediately intrigued. She’d noticed on recent flights that some of the flight attendants looked more like her – older, not super skinny – and thought maybe things were changing in the airline industry.

Reading the Room. Literally.

At the open call, the airline projected their core values on a PowerPoint slide. Safety was at the top of the list. When the other applicants were asked why they wanted to be a flight attendant, they talked about wanting to work with people. Sue talked about safety – and backed it up with 30 years of fire drills, lockdown protocols, and keeping small humans in one piece. She was one of the very few who advanced to training.

It was a very Sue move.

The Training That Almost Broke Her

Training lasted five weeks in Salt Lake City, and it was brutal. Sue later learned that her airline’s program was considerably stricter than those of other airlines – rigorous exams, 40 competency tests, and a dress code so detailed it specified earring length (no longer than one inch). The schedule started at a different time every day, by design, to mirror the unpredictability of actual flight schedules.

The militant tactics rattled some of the younger trainees. Sue, with decades of work and life behind her, saw it for what it was – just a strategy – and kept going. She got 100% on her first exam. When the memorization load got intense, she drew on her teacher training to develop study techniques and shared them with her cohort. Thirty-eight people started and 33 finished – an unusually high graduation rate. My hunch is that Sue deserves some credit for that.

Then came five days of in-flight training: about 15 actual flights. This part was rough in a different way.

She told herself it was a clash of learning styles. She almost quit. Kahle talked her off the ledge, suggesting she give it a week. She got through it. And when the self-doubt crept in, she had a mantra ready: “I’m at the age where if someone says no to me, that’s fine. I don’t care.”

Remember, Sue is a worker bee.

One thing worth noting: as grueling as training was, it was “Equal Opportunity Terrible.” She never felt singled out for her age or size – some of the instructors were bigger than she was. Being an older, larger flight attendant was entirely fine.

Hitting Her Stride

The first few months were hard. New flight attendants start on Reserve – on call 12 hours a day, 4am to 4pm, with no say in the schedule. Sue was based out of Dallas, which she’d wanted since her daughter was there, but getting to the airport on short notice was stressful enough that she eventually got a crash pad with other flight attendants near the airport for a few months. And as the low person on the seniority totem pole, she worked Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Then, a few months in, something shifted. She found her footing. She discovered the tight-knit camaraderie of the flight attendant and pilot community – people who travel together, lean on each other, and just get it in a way outsiders don’t. She liked the overnights: nice hotels, sometimes dinner with the crew, sometimes a quiet night in with a crochet project. And she found, maybe most unexpectedly, that she loved the passengers.

A few stories capture what Sue brings to this work. Mid-flight, a toddler was getting squirmy in his mother’s lap. Sue offered a clear plastic cup for him to play with – a trick she’d used flying with her own granddaughter. It worked like a charm. When the plane landed, the passenger across the aisle stopped her on the way out. “He said, ‘What you did was amazing. I’ve never seen a flight attendant go that extra mile.’”

An older woman struggled down the aisle, wouldn’t make eye contact, and didn’t respond when Sue asked how she could help. Sue got her bag into the overhead bin anyway, flipped up the armrest so she could slide easily into her seat, and told her to let her know if she needed anything. The woman ignored her. As she exited the plane, she stopped and said: “You’re a good one.”

Then there’s this, from Captain Ben:

The Trade-Offs

Sue has been flying for a year and a half. Her monthly schedule is 18 days on, 12 off. Now that she has a little seniority, she stacks her trips – flying six days straight to bank a full week at home. She’s built exactly the travel life she wanted: her daughter and grandchild are in Dallas, the airport is seven minutes away, and she and her husband get to Dallas and back to Michigan regularly to see family.

It hasn’t been without costs. Flight attendants only get paid for time in the air, which means a lot of unpaid hours. The work is physical – turbulence throws flight attendants around causing bruises, and eating well on the road is nearly impossible. Planning bigger trips, like Europe, is tricky when schedules come out just ten days before the following month.

But in the end, Sue got all the things she went looking for: some income, free travel, and a job that keeps her on her toes, literally. And Kahle, the husband who told her she couldn't travel? He's her biggest cheerleader.

Random Rec of the Week

⏳ I have been texting the link to this Substack article to my loved ones like crazy all week and now I am sharing it with all of you. Fittingly given this week’s story about Sue, it is all about the importance of enjoying life in your 60s. In a nutshell, statistically speaking, the average healthy 60-year old has 12 good years before their mobility and energy take a major nosedive. A must-read for people interested in intentional living as we age. Carpe diem, baby!

Humans vs Retirement

Your 12 Good Years

Here’s a number that should change how you think about retirement: 12…

Read more

2 months ago · 2569 likes · 305 comments · Dan Haylett

New or Catching Up?

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! This newsletter is about late midlife reinvention: my adventures living somewhere new for a month every year, profiles of people making bold life changes, and enthusiastic takes on movies, Broadway, and the Oscars.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: Rome Reckoning: Hail Caesar!, Happy Nesting in New York City, Retirement Under a Microscope.

• All past articles are collected here.

• HAVE YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAD A BOLD MIDLIFE PIVOT, LIKE SUE? Help me shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

Clicking the little heart button 💗 at the top of a post or email, commenting, and sharing can also help this newsletter reach more people (because that’s how Substack’s algorithm works). In addition I would be so very grateful if you would forward this to someone who might enjoy it as I try to increase subscribers.

THANK YOU to Sue Strickland, for generously sharing your story and photos, and to my friend Lisa Bell, who suggested I profile Sue and then introduced us. Thanks, as always, to all of you for reading and engaging. Until next time!

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Five years before Nick Morris retired from a long and successful career in biochemistry, he did something unusual: he started a Substack called THE RETIREMENT NEWSLETTER. Not vague musings about retiring someday - actual planning, research, and documentation of the transition ahead.

He decided to find out - methodically, intentionally, and in public.

The Scientist’s Approach

Nick spent his career as a biochemist at a British academic institution, with a stint at an Ivy League university in the U.S. Much of his working life was spent in a lab, peering at cells under a microscope.

When Nick was 55, he decided he’d retire early at age 60 by leveraging his university pension. Although the typical state-sponsored retirement is at age 67, 60 felt right.

He’d set up his first blog in 1994 and always written for fun. When he saw Substack gaining traction in the early 2020s, he recognized an opportunity. He started writing.

In June of 2021 he wrote his first post: “What’s all this about? How to approach retirement.” Every Sunday, without fail, he posted a short, focused, post examining some aspect of retirement planning: finances, pensions, identity, purpose. He was preparing himself – and, slowly, building an audience of people facing the same questions.

Retirement in Practice

After Nick retired in April 2024 , the focus of his newsletter shifted from planning to living. Recent topics include “Finding a balance in retirement,” “Are weekends still important in retirement?”, and “When reflection goes too far.” Nick has written a whopping 250 (!) posts.

In addition to his newsletter, he has a host of hobbies and interests. They include narrowboating on UK canals (traditional cargo boats now used for leisure), hiking, skiing, and travel. He lost 40 pounds because he finally had time to prioritize exercise and healthy eating. He goes on holiday when he wants. He’s less stressed.

But he’s clear-eyed about the challenges too. Here’s what he wrote in a recent post about work/life balance in retirement.

Look Before You Leap, and then Leap!

Nick’s advice for people considering retirement? Don’t wait for the “perfect” financial moment.

His practical suggestion: Go through several years of finances, calculate your minimum expenses, and recognize that everything else is a bonus. This analytical approach - looking at retirement the way he once looked at cells under a microscope - runs through everything he does.

Why I Wanted to Profile Nick

I discovered Nick’s work by typing “retirement” into Substack’s search. Nick’s newsletter stood out among the others because it was short, well-written, and thoughtful. As someone who is a bit more scattershot, content-wise, I appreciate the intentionality and focus of his approach.

Every Sunday, a tidy, organized, post arrives examining one specific aspect of retirement. No rambling. No filler. Just clear thinking about what this stage of life actually looks like.

We’re both asking the same question: how do you stay engaged, curious, and growing in late midlife? I’m traveling, exploring new hobbies, and profiling other people making bold life changes. As he did in his working life, Nick is methodically exploring retirement’s terrain through introspective weekly reflections.

But we're both documenting the journey - and both discovering that retirement doesn't mean stopping. It means examining what matters and choosing what comes next.

Check out Nick's newsletter:

Random Rec of the Week

🎬🍿 Hugh and I recently saw Sirât, which received Oscar noms for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound. It is mesmerizing. The sound and cinematography are both superb. It is a movie about a father and son who join up with a small group of Rave-goers in the Sahara. Complications ensue. Given the pulsating sound and stunning scenery, the film should be seen in the theater if at all possible.

New or Catching Up?

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! Happy Nesting is my exploration of how late midlife can be a time of joy, growth, and discovery.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: Oscars Review: Expected Winner, Unexpected Tearjerker, Roman Holiday: the Concept vs. the Reality, How to Pack for a Month: Bring Your Baggage.

• All past articles are collected here.

• Have you or someone you know had a bold mid-life pivot, like Laurie, Susan & Bonnie, Corky, Tom, or Scott? I’d love to shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

Clicking the little heart button 💗 at the top of a post or email, commenting, and sharing can also help this newsletter reach more people (because that’s how Substack’s algorithm works). In addition I would be so very grateful if you would forward this to someone who might enjoy it as I try to increase subscribers.

Thanks to Nick for sharing his story and photos - and to all of you for reading. Until next time!

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New subscribers, welcome! Info on the vibe of this newsletter is at the end of this post.

Preaching What She Practiced

Laurie Greenberg had a good job as a pharmacist. Stable. Well-paying. Respectable.

Then she blew it all up.

Now, as a life coach, Laurie preaches what she practiced: you don’t need permission to reinvent yourself.

The Pharmacist

Laurie originally went to school to become a clinical pharmacist and built a solid career. She married, moved to Ann Arbor Michigan, had three children, and worked part time when they were growing up. It was a good life. She did this for over 20 years.

But when her oldest hit high school, Laurie wanted to return to full-time work. The question was: did she want to go back to work full-time as a pharmacist?

The Epiphany

She went to a pharmacy conference looking for answers. Instead, she uncovered questions.

It was time to pivot.

The Two-Year Detour

Laurie took her time figuring it out. She enrolled at Washtenaw Community College, taking three business and accounting classes each semester. She considered getting an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. But the $120,000 price tag gave her pause.

She took stock. Did she really need an MBA for what she wanted to do? In a word, no. What she really wanted was to inspire and motivate people through coaching.

The Leap

Laurie enrolled in a year-long coaching certification program.

The program cost $13,000 – a fraction of an MBA. But the real cost was opportunity: she didn’t work for a year while completing the coursework. Fortunately, her husband had a stable job and could support the family during the transition.

Starting from Scratch

At first, it was slow going. Laurie worked with two types of clients:

• People in life transition who wanted clarity on where they were, what was missing, and what they wanted next.

• Business professionals who needed help becoming better leaders, finding balance, or navigating career challenges.

She also worked with college students (her kids’ ages made her a natural fit). Companies began hiring her to help new managers with leadership development and strategic visioning.

Income-wise? She started at zero. It took six years of patience and perseverance to build her coaching practice to the point where it was comparable to her pharmacist salary. Laurie is grateful she had a partner who supported her along the way. Her goal now is to flip that support back to him so he can start winding down.

Life as a Coach

A typical engagement is eight sessions over eight weeks. Her sessions are both in-person and online. She has corporate clients in New York and travels there periodically to meet with their teams.

Laurie helps clients: 1) figure out what they want, 2) identify what’s blocking them (usually internal limiting beliefs or assumptions), and then 3) strategize how to get there. Laurie relies on the “7 levels of energy” framework: when the potential benefit becomes bigger than the pain of staying stuck, that’s when people make meaningful changes.

Coaching Success Stories

The miserable young professional: A young man had been in his first job after college for two years. He’d been told he needed to stay put because it’s easier to get a job, well, when you have a job. But he was deeply unhappy. Laurie worked with him to create a structured job-hunting plan he could execute after quitting. He found a new position and is much happier.

The fresh-start client: A woman in mid-life got divorced, moved, and took some time to find herself. Through coaching, she envisioned what she wanted to create next, and went for it!

The hands-on professional: A manager was offered a promotion to a leadership role. Through coaching, she realized she loved doing the work, not leading others. She stayed in her current position – by choice.

Laurie’s Lessons

Take baby steps. Laurie credits the book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers for this credo.

Coaching benefits everyone. Laurie regularly works with a support team, including a life coach, a business coach, and an intuitive energy coach, to support her own personal growth journey.

It’s okay to reinvent yourself. Laurie helps people think outside the box.

Happy Nesting Connection

At 52, Laurie is younger than most people I’ve profiled. But one of the themes of Happy Nesting is refusing to calcify as we age by staying curious, flexible, and open to transformation. Laurie’s leap from pharmacist to life coach embodies exactly that.

Change doesn’t require a passport or a plane ticket. Sometimes it just requires looking around a convention center and realizing: these are not my people. And then having the guts to find yours.

Random Rec of the Week

🎶 🎸 🎶 🎸 I grew up in the 70s and 80s, the so-called “classic rock” era. I love all the headbanging bands like The Who and Bruce Springsteen, but my favorite band of this vintage is a band that I think doesn’t get enough airtime & acclaim. It’s Dire Straits. Love, love, love this band. Brothers in Arms is probably their best known album but their other albums like Love Over Gold, Making Movies, On Every Street, and Communiqué are also wonderful. Mark Knopfler is so talented!

Thank You!

Thank you, Laurie, for sharing your story and your wisdom! If you’re interested in learning more about Laurie’s coaching practice, here is a link to her business, Infinite Potential Coaching. Thank you, wonderful subscribers, for reading, commenting, and sharing!

New or Catching Up?

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! Happy Nesting is my exploration of how late mid-life can be a time of joy, growth, and discovery.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: Before Happy Nesting, There was Girl Explorer, They’d Never Met. After 512 Miles on the El Camino, They Had Everything in Common, Our Month in Colorado Springs.

• All past articles are collected here.

• Have you or someone you know had a major mid-life pivot, like Laurie? I’d love to shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

If you have a moment, please tap the heart button. THANK YOU! It helps others find this newsletter. 💗 In addition I would be so very grateful if you would forward this to someone who might enjoy it.

Until next time!

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New subscribers, welcome, I’m so glad you’re here! Info on the vibe of this newsletter is at the end of this post.

Two Women, One Camino

Last year, more than 520,000 people walked the sacred Camino de Santiago. Bonnie Ohye, 57, and Susan Barber, 60, weren't among the many who walked just the final week to earn their certificate. Each woman spent six weeks walking solo, covering 512 miles in the Fall of 2025. They both walked "The French Way.”

When I brought them together in January they'd never met. But, as you will see, their stories were remarkably intertwined.

What Propelled Them Forward

Bonnie wanted to walk the Camino while it was still physically and logistically possible. She wanted greater confidence and agency in her decision-making and was inspired by the book I’ll Push You. For Susan, the Camino offered contemplation, connection, and a level of safety that made it appealing for a solo woman traveler.

Planning & Logistics

Susan, a former collegiate athlete, had weathered several years of foot surgeries and a knee replacement. To protect her aging joints, she worked with an agency to pre-book her hotels and arrange daily luggage transfers. She trained extensively and spent time reading Facebook group reviews. Still, once she began walking, she realized her training hadn’t fully prepared her – especially since she hadn’t trained with a loaded pack. After a few days of crushing back pain, she bought a new backpack that distributed weight properly.

Bonnie’s travel, in contrast, was not preplanned. She initially stayed in albergues –modest, dorm-style guest houses along the route. This experience was challenging due to crowded rooms, loud snoring, and the need to carry valuables into the shower. She quickly pivoted to modest hotels with private rooms and eventually hired a service to book her accommodations nightly.

There were advantages and disadvantages to each approach. Although Susan had much less stress about where she was going to sleep each night, having pre-booked everything in advance meant she was locked in to her schedule. She met people along the way she would have enjoyed continuing on with, but because of the built-in rest days, her path would diverge from that of her companions. Bonnie, in contrast, had more flexibility. However, this came with the daily pressure of having to figure out where she was going to stay that night, which necessitated a lot of on-the-trail, on-the-fly communication.

Each woman established her own ground rules for the journey. Susan decided in advance not to listen to headphones or music throughout the trip. Bonnie was disciplined about her pack weight, which she kept to 17 pounds, including water.

What was Hard

• Physical Challenges. Hours of daily walking, with occasional steep climbs and descents, took its toll. Foot problems were universal, and small issues could quickly escalate if ignored. Both women learned to respond immediately – taping, changing shoes, or swapping sandals depending on terrain.

• Logistical Challenges. Eating could be challenging since during siestas, many places were closed. It was hard at times to get enough calories. Answering nature’s call – given the other walkers and long, exposed stretches – was, as Susan put it, “an adventure.”

• Rest days were anything but restful, as laundry and other errands still had to be done.

“The Camino Provides”

There’s a phrase you hear constantly on the Camino: the Camino Provides. Basically, things go wrong, but it works out anyway. Both Susan and Bonnie encountered stressful situations that were resolved through the kindness and grace of strangers.

Susan had mailed an uncomfortable daypack ahead to her ending destination, not realizing her passport was still tucked inside. When she discovered her mistake, panic set in. She rushed to the postal office, where a friendly employee disappeared into the back and emerged with her package. Susan unpacked it, retrieved her passport, and the postal worker repackaged everything, free of charge.

Bonnie faced her own crisis when a package from her husband, containing essential medication and shoes, never arrived. She walked into a local pharmacy. The pharmacist didn't recognize the American medication name, but together they worked through the language barrier to identify an equivalent. Bonnie got her medication – no prescription required.

These weren’t just logistical solutions – they were reminders that the Camino’s magic isn’t just in the path itself, but in the people who help you walk it.

What They Loved

The parallels in Susan and Bonnie’s journeys were striking. First and foremost, they loved the beautiful scenery and varied terrain. The Camino is a storied walk for a reason. Three additional elements defined the experience.

Solo Time

Both women hiked the Camino alone (Bonnie’s husband joined her for the first four days only). Susan could have gone with a friend, but she wanted the solitude to have time to process and work through some interpersonal challenges in her life. After she returned, the various relationships she spent much time pondering and processing improved because of the time she took to think them through. Her approach was deeply intentional.

Social Time

By not traveling with a companion, Susan and Bonnie were open to and had numerous conversations with other travelers. Conversations became very deep, very quickly. Susan spent several days with three soldiers from England. Then after a scheduled rest stop necessitated her leaving this group, she found another group of lovely peeps. Bonnie still texts her “Camino family.”

Spiritual Time

The solo time and the social time are part of the spirituality of the journey. In addition, although neither woman considers herself particularly religious, both visited numerous churches along the way, sitting quietly, and taking in the history and stillness. Bonnie went to many masses in the evenings and found stopping at churches during the day relaxing and restorative.

Susan developed a daily practice that became her spiritual anchor:

A Life-Changing Experience

The Camino was a profound experience. Returning home, both struggled with the sudden abundance of possessions and decisions about things that, in the overall scheme of things, don’t matter all that much.

When I asked Bonnie and Susan what advice they'd give someone considering the Camino, their answers were the same: just go! Both plan to return.

512 miles, six weeks, and countless conversations later, both women returned home transformed – not because the Camino changed them, but because it gave them space to change themselves.

Random Rec of the Week

📚 This week’s recommendation is the book Big Dress Energy. The book is heavily steeped in market research, my career prior to retirement, which may be why I enjoyed it so much. I loved the content on “Hanger Management” and wardrobe ethnography. Given that we all wear clothes – every day, no less! 😏 – learning about the psychology behind our clothing choices in order to have a more intentional wardrobe is time well spent.

Thank You!

Thank you to Bonnie and Susan for sharing your stories and beautiful photos. Thank you subscribers for reading, commenting, and sharing! If you have any questions about the El Camino post them in the comments and Bonnie and/or Susan, both of whom subscribe to this newsletter, can answer!

Until next time!

New or Catching Up?

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! Happy Nesting is my exploration of how late mid-life can be a time of joy, growth, and discovery.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: Our Month in Colorado Springs, Location is Everything: How Julia Roberts Stole the Golden Globes, Hear Me Out: Why Photo Albums are So Worth It.

• All past articles are collected here.

• Have you or someone you know had a major mid-life pivot, like Susan or Bonnie? I’d love to shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

If you have a moment, please tap the heart button. THANK YOU! It helps others find this newsletter. 💗 In addition I would be so very grateful if you would forward this to someone who might enjoy it.

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New or catching up?

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! Happy Nesting is my exploration of how mid-life can be a time of joy, growth, and surprising discovery.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: Hear Me Out: Why Photo Albums are So Worth It, Trust Your Gut: How One Woman Reinvented Her Life on the Open Road, How to thrive in retirement.

• All past articles are collected here.

• Have you or someone you know had a major mid-life pivot, like Tom? I’d love to shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

If you have a moment, please tap the heart button. THANK YOU! It helps others find this newsletter. 💗 In addition I would be so very grateful if you would forward this to someone who might enjoy it.

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Meet Tom

Tom Rooney is a lifelong sports fan. Like many of us, before retirement sports was just a hobby, albeit an important one. After his retirement, however, he had the time, talent, and energy to turn that passion into a meaningful second chapter.

Iowa Farm Boy Makes Good

Originally from Iowa farm country, Tom attended University of Northern Iowa, where he earned a degree in accounting He moved to Minneapolis, worked for one of the big public accounting firms for a few years, and then took a job at Medtronic. Along the way, he married and raised a family.

He worked hard, and steadily rose through the ranks, ultimately becoming a Vice President. In 2009, he retired from Medtronic after working there 26+ years.

Tom was in his mid-50s when he retired. His financial advisor confirmed he was in good shape. The question was: now what?

How One Alumni Event Changed his Life

Tom began his retirement with no grand plan. He pursued hobbies, such as biking. One day he attended a University of Northern Iowa alumni event at the newly-opened Target Field. (The Twins CFO at the time was a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa.)

In conversation, Tom learned there was a need for ushers. He had plenty of time, didn’t care about the nominal pay, and thought it sounded like fun. He loved the idea that he would be paid to watch baseball – literally, since part of the job is making sure foul balls don’t hit fans. 😜

Eventually Tom was assigned to a premium area, Sections, 116 and 117, just to the third-base side of home plate. He got to know the regulars.

“The Best Usher in Target Field”

Twins management emphasized the importance of creating “Magic Moments” for fans. By making some simple signs and engaging with fans, Tom took this assignment seriously. Check out this video of Tom in action!

My friend Ellen, who worked with Tom at Medtronic back in the day and suggested this profile, has seen him work his magic firsthand.

Fans celebrating a birthday often asked Tom to get their name on the Jumbotron. Since this required advance notice, Tom came up with an alternate approach. He made a sign with their name and how old they were and got everyone in the section to sing Happy Birthday. Because Tom knew some of the roving cameramen, sometimes birthday celebrants would get on the Jumbotron after all.

Tom’s section had extra space for handicapped seating. One day there was a fairly big group which included a man in a wheelchair. He learned that the gentleman had cancer and one of his last wishes was to go to a baseball game. Tom went down to the event staff room, got a baseball, and had everyone sign and date it. At the end of the game they handed it to the man in the wheelchair, who was deeply moved.

Taking Classes … and Teaching Classes

Shortly after he began ushering, Tom discovered a University of Minnesota chapter of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which provides non-credit educational and social opportunities for adults aged 50 and older. He started taking OLLI classes. He took classes about jazz, World War II, Old Norse mythology, and even jokes and storytelling.

After a bit, he started teaching classes, often about sports but sometimes about other topics of interest, such as music. Over the years, Tom developed 20 different sports-related classes! Here are a few of his course titles:

• Minnesota Sports: A History of Heartbreak

• Shut Up and Dribble: Sports and Activism

• Women and Sports: The Struggle Continues

• The Two Most Exciting Words in Baseball: Game 7

Transitioning to a Tour Guide

Tom loved being an usher. But there was a problem. Baseball games take place on nights and weekends, which is inconvenient for family life. So he eventually switched to being a tour guide/docent at Target Field because of the kinder hours. In 2016 the Vikings opened a new stadium. Tom was a season ticket holder, and started giving tours at U.S. Bank Stadium as well. He currently works as a Senior Stadium Docent at both Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium.

One highlight of working at Vikings games was when the retired football great Carl Eller, one of the legendary “Purple People Eaters,” attended an event. After Eller retired he became a ceramicist. He knew some of his bowls were on display somewhere in the stadium, but didn’t know where. Tom proudly escorted Carl Eller, football great, to the display.

What Triggered Tom’s Retirement Renaissance

Tom is a modest guy, definitely not one to blow his own horn. But reflecting on his post-career path, I see three primary motivators behind his Retirement Renaissance.

• Tom had no ego, he contentedly went from being a VP at Medtronic to working as an hourly usher and tour guide.

• He was open to new experiences, especially those that celebrated his lifelong love of sports.

• He worked hard, coming up with creative ways to engage and entertain sports fans and life learners at games, tours, and OLLI classes.

Tom’s story is a reminder that the best second chapters aren’t about status or ambition, but curiosity, generosity, and having fun.

Random Rec of the Week

🎬 🍿 As I mentioned last week I am busy these days watching all the awards-show-contender movies. Last week I saw and loved FRANKENSTEIN. I am a big fan of director Guillermo del Toro’s work, and FRANKENSTEIN’S production design, costumes, story, soundtrack, and acting are all top notch.

Thank You!

Thank you Tom for sharing your inspiring story!

Thank you subscribers for reading, commenting, and sharing!

The Golden Globes are on this Sunday (8 pm ET on CBS) so on Monday morning I will continue my long-standing practice of posting a review of the ceremony. (For new subscribers: I wrote Oscar and Golden Globes reviews for years on WordPress and moved everything to Substack when I launched this newsletter.) I’m especially excited this year, since host Nikki Glaser was fantastic last year and has been invited back, and the Globes’ expanded, more diverse voting body has made the awards more credible than in the past.

Until next time!

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New or catching up?

• New subscribers: hello and welcome! Happy Nesting is my exploration of how mid-life can be a time of joy, growth, and surprising discovery.

• My newsletter is 100% unpaid: all recommendations and links are simply things I genuinely enjoy.

• Recent posts: There’s no place like Oz, Sedona, How to thrive in retirement.

• All past articles are collected here.

• Have you or someone you know had a major mid-life pivot? I’d love to shine a light on their story. Email me at: alicejmorgana2 at gmail.

If you have a moment, please tap the heart button. THANK YOU! It helps others find this newsletter. 💗 In addition I would be so very grateful if you would forward this to someone who might enjoy it.

Share

Subscribe now

Meet Corky

Corky Wattles is a badass.

A single mom, she raised her daughter Isabel in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It wasn’t easy. She worked long hours to pay the bills. She had a variety of jobs over the years, including automotive sales. In fact, Corky sold me my minivan!

Late in her career, she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a less qualified man who was buddies with her boss. Corky successfully sued for sex discrimination, and the resulting EEOC settlement gave her some financial wiggle room. By the time she approached her 60s, she was done with full time work. She worked as a bartender. The pandemic hit. She took stock.

Taking the leap

With no prior RV experience, Corky bought a 26 foot rig and set out on a solo, cross-country adventure.

As readers of this newsletter know, I am fascinated by behavior change, what motivates people to make major life pivots. A variety of triggers prompted Corky to take action.

Seeing the country by motorhome had long lingered in the back of her mind; her father had considered buying an RV when she was young but never did. Her financial advisor gave her the green light.

But in Corky’s own words, the primary motivators were twofold:

Motivator #1: she needed a reset

“I suffered from acute anxiety my entire life. I have a highly sensitive personality. My wanderlust had been left dangling. I’m a strong woman and I was flailing too much. I knew I needed to get out there and recharge my power.”

Motivator #2: she trusted her intuition

“I called this my ‘trust your gut’ tour. Human intuition has been muted by evolution. I always tell any young woman. do not mute your gut!”

“You drive to the store. Rolling is an adventure.”

Corky started rolling, figuring things out along the way. At first, she stayed at official RV parks which provided hookup services. She soon discovered boondocking, free off-grid camping without utility hookups.

She slowed down. She walked, hiked, journaled, drew, listened to music, and spent long stretches just being outside, taking in the extraordinary beauty of the American Southwest.

“I taught myself to stand in the natural beauty out there. I’d never been to the desert, never experienced that beauty. Desert sunsets, they’re transformative.”

Finding her soulmates

Corky is a natural organizer. During the holidays, she helped pull together impromptu Thanksgiving and Christmas camp potlucks. Out in nature, she discovered, connections deepen quickly into lasting, meaningful relationships. Back in Ann Arbor, Corky is a political force, one of the leaders of the No Kings protests. Yet out in the wild she found kindred spirits across the political spectrum. Corky found her people.

“I felt like I jumped into a Ron Howard movie, they were all so warm and welcoming. There were so many moments of pure joy.”

During her first trip, an abandoned stray desert dog showed up at one of the camps. Corky found her beloved dog Gypsy.

“We all took a vote. Do we take her to the shelter and follow the law, or does Corky get to keep her? And everybody said, Corky gets to keep her. It was meant to be. She is my soulmate dog.”

“Don’t let the fear in”

There were several situations in which she needed help, once when her RV got stuck and once when she was driving in heavy wind and her awning was about to blow off the rig. Both times, random strangers stopped to help. Corky learned to take bad weather seriously, and how to manage her rig when it hit. Some solo women travelers put men’s shoes outside their door as a decoy. Corky never did. She told herself it would all work out, and it did.

What the future holds

Corky has taken three trips thus far. She rolled for about 6 months in 2023 and again in 2024, both times mostly throughout the American Southwest. This fall, she took a short trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Challenges persist, mostly relating to her and Gypsy’s respective health. Driving the rig has taken a heavy physical toll. Corky suffers from debilitating back pain. She now drives no more than 4 hours a day, got an “old fart” ergonomic pillow, and is generally more aware of her limitations. Gypsy also has some ailments that require medical attention. Given that the rig is hard to drive in snow and ice, she has to time her trips out of Michigan carefully. She can’t wait to get out there again.

“After all those years of therapy and anti-anxiety meds, the best thing was going off by myself and testing my power.”

By rolling along, trusting her gut, leaning into nature, and opening herself to connection, Corky found joy, meaning and healing.

• She found her soulmate people.

• She found her soulmate dog.

• And she recharged her power.

Random rec of the week

📚 I am a big fan of epistolary novels (books which consist solely of correspondence) and recently devoured Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent. In addition to the fact that the protagonist is, like Corky, a badass, the book is a love letter to literature. Highly recommend.

This week’s shoutouts

Thank you Corky for trusting me with your amazing story and for sharing your beautiful photos. You are an inspiration!

It’s hard to believe that this is my 15th weekly post. Thank you all so very much for reading my articles over the past few months and tolerating my weird topics such as Broadway fandom, what my dogs think of travel, Jazzercise, etc. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, writing this newsletter has given my retirement shape and structure.

My adult children are home next week, so I will be taking some time off to be with them. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday.

Until next time!

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Hello and welcome!

To my new readers, I’m so glad you’re here! I write about Happy Nesting, behavior change, and how to live your best life in mid-life and beyond. To my returning readers, THANK YOU! Your support, comments, and encouragement have made this a super fun retirement project.

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This week, I’m sharing the story of my friend Scott Peterson, who made a bold mid-life shift — trading a senior nonprofit role in the Bay Area for working outdoors in coastal Maine. Scott completely transformed what he did, and where and how he lived, in his 50s.

Scott’s story

Scott spent much of his twenties in Zimbabwe, (!) where he ran a college study abroad program. He ultimately settled in Berkeley, building a career as a nonprofit training consultant and facilitator. His wife Aiko also worked as a nonprofit executive. They raised their two children. Years passed.

A toe in the water

Scott is originally from New England and his parents have a summer cottage in Maine. During the COVID pandemic, California was very strict. Scott was interested in getting out of the Bay Area. One of the (few) upsides of COVID was that it introduced the possibility of remote work. So Scott started applying to nonprofit jobs in New England, thinking he could work remotely from Berkeley and then spend some time in Maine. He applied for a slew of full time nonprofit-related jobs, none of which panned out. In this process, he discovered a summer caretaker position on Damariscove Island. The accommodations were rustic and the work involved clearing brush and greeting fishermen and sailors.

“Honestly something so radically different, so close to nature and the ocean and still having contact with people but more in a customer service-type relationship, was super appealing. Because of the pandemic and having been isolated already, the idea of being on an island off the grid in very spartan conditions didn’t freak me out at all. It was almost like a thing I couldn’t say no to.”

Going all in

Scott and his wife loved their first summer on the island, working together as a team despite (or perhaps because of?) the hard work and simple living. They came back to Damariscove Island for two more summers. In the Fall of 2023 Scott applied to work for the Boothbay Regional Land Trust on a full time basis, overseeing their 24 properties in the region. He got the job, and moved to Maine.

“The professional switch was a big deal. I went from a desk job, a senior director role in nonprofits in my field doing leadership development training, to clearing trails. We have over 50 miles of trails so it’s a really different skill set. What a gift it is to be outside. Living alone and working alone is a character-building experience. I gained a real sense of who I am. I learned to accept the moment.”

Going bicoastal

Given the far greater professional opportunity in the Bay Area, Aiko stayed in Berkeley. The couple now maintain a bicoastal relationship. Aiko and their daughter now work as summer caretakers of the island while Scott works at the Land Trust.

“My wife’s career was peaking and she did not want to give that up. We had to navigate her being on the West Coast and me being on the East Coast and how we were going to do that. Fortunately our relationship was strong enough. The intimacy of living and working together on the island for three summers really strengthened our marriage.”

Triggers to transformation

Looking at Scott’s story, there is no one single factor that caused this major mid-life shift. Several experiences played a role, including:

• Living in Zimbabwe in his twenties

• His work as a nonprofit facilitator, helping others shift their mindsets

• The COVID pandemic, which opened the door to the possibility of remote jobs outside of Berkeley and made Scott less fearful of an isolated job on an actual island

• A positive experience working outdoors as a seasonal caretaker with his wife, which caused him to take a full time position doing similar work and at the same time provided him with confidence that their marriage could withstand a bicoastal relationship.

“You have to be willing to embrace the possibility of change. You have to be willing not to let the fear of consequences overwhelm your willingness to put yourself out there.”

So there you have it! Thanks, as always, for reading. If you know of someone who has had a major shift in mid-life, please forward this newsletter and ask them to contact me. My email is alicejmorgana2 at gmail. Until next time!

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