Your Best Year Yet...
Having spent the last 14 weeks before writing this letter immersed in Cohort 20 of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (GS10KSB) program at the Community College of RI, publishing a few editions of this magazine and unexpectedly caring for the personal and business affairs of a 93-year-young new friend and colleague, it is beyond me what I had been doing with all my time before these detours developed. Suffice to say, I was clearly wasting a lot of it!
At the start of GS10KSB, I was already a little nervous about how much time the program would take away from my work schedule since there is a strict attendance policy requiring at least one full day away from the office per week. This was in addition to several hours of homework and meetings with program colleagues and a business advisor also thrown into the weekly mix.
Shortly after the program began in early September, I received a call from my aforementioned new friend, Dick, when he let me know that he was heading in for surgery to repair two femur fractures that he had been walking around on since at least mid-summer. He added something along the lines of, “I need you to take on the responsibility of learning and running my business while I recover.”
At the start of GS10KSB, I was already a little nervous about how much time the program would take away from my work schedule since there is a strict attendance policy requiring at least one full day away from the office per week. This was in addition to several hours of homework and meetings with program colleagues and a business advisor also thrown into the weekly mix.
Shortly after the program began in early September, I received a call from my aforementioned new friend, Dick, when he let me know that he was heading in for surgery to repair two femur fractures that he had been walking around on since at least mid-summer. He added something along the lines of, “I need you to take on the responsibility of learning and running my business while I recover.”
By sheer necessity, I figured out that if I simply looked at what I needed to do each hour rather than even looking at a whole day, I could keep myself from going over the deep end into overwhelm mode.
The next few months were a challenge to juggle the myriad responsibilities and there were a few scares with Dick as he developed some other complications along the way, but we made it through and in the process have developed a deep and caring friendship.
There’s nothing like hanging out with someone who has been on this planet for nearly a century. I love hearing the stories and lessons he’s learned on his journey and he’s more than happy to share them with the hope that his experiences help me avoid some pitfalls.
Up until this summer, Dick had worked almost every day of his young adult through adult life and freely shares that his work is what keeps him going even at 93. He’s finally home from rehab and is back to caring for himself for the most part and shows me what aging gracefully can look like.
This month, our theme is Aging Gracefully. Dick has shown me that there are lots of ways to do just that! We hope you find some helpful tidbits for your journey as you make your way through these pages.
Welcome 2024! I hope this will be your best year yet...
Peace,
Maisie Raftery, Publisher
