Years before I ever knew I would
have to retire from teaching in June of 2011 to take care of my darling
husband, Scott, who was dying from stage four colon cancer, I had a luncheon
meeting with my good friend Dr. Paula Calabrese, who said to me the words I
used to title this piece, "You should never retire FROM something;
you should always retire TO something." Paula is so bright and so capable,
so I always listen when she speaks. She has so much to teach, and I am a very
willing pupil, so I thought about my next focus. When I retired from
teaching, it was to take care of Scott and his parents. For a year, I was
never without a focus. Then Scott died May 8, 2012; Dad Rittman died July
18, 2012; and Mom Rittman died September 26, 2012. However, I still was
not without a focus! I had all of the house fixing and clean up to
do before it was put on the market; there was much time spent looking at
condos; and for the first time in a long time, I was the only one I had to take
care of- definitely not the norm for me!
I always
wanted to be a writer. In fact, here is a secret I will share with you: I
think every English teacher wants to be a writer! All those credits in
prose and poetry- appreciating the singular beauty of similes and metaphors,
modifiers and qualifiers, precise word choices and action verbs- is just too
much to bear, and we see ourselves enveloped in these beautiful words and
images, and we want to be a part of it, just as it is a part of us. But there
is no way an English teacher working full time can ever have the luxury of
time needed to compose and reflect and edit.
When
Scott was dying from colon cancer for those 30 months, I wrote a weekly blog on
a free site called The Caring Bridge. This free site is for those who are
seriously ill, and the caregiver or a family member or close friend can post
updates on the patient's progress. I remember discussing this site with
Scott. He was not sure that he wanted any part of it, but he agreed it
would be easier for me to write a weekly update than to answer 50 plus emails
and phone calls per week.
And so my
journey as a writer began, and at the time, I did not even know it. I did know that I liked the feeling and the process of writing for an
audience.
The first
entries of The Caring Bridge were tentative. I did not want to disclose
too much information, as Scott was so private, but I did want to thank all who
cared enough to log in and check on him. Gradually, Scott and I worked out a
pattern of behaviors which was almost like a dance: we focused on discussing
what was important to share, giving a glimpse into our daily
life together (which we still tried to enjoy as much as
possible despite his diagnosis), and saying thank you to all who visited our
site.
The
writing was cathartic for me. I tried to write when Scott was not in the
same room, as I always cried while typing, as I attempted to compose and
present everything in a positive manner. I read each entry to Scott
before posting it to the Internet, because it was his site as much as
mine. We both enjoyed the positive and uplifting comments posted by friends,
and our site became an extension of our real life friends, in an Internet
friendship venue. In 30 months, we had over 15,000 visits, a
true testament to the loyalty and faithfulness of our friends.
Besides
missing Scott terribly, I really missed writing on The Caring Bridge after
Scott died.
I
revisited a book I started years before, liked what I read, and decided to
finish writing the book.
And that
is how STUDENT TEACHING: THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM A MASTER TEACHER came to be.
And the
timing was so right. This past week, I also retired from 33 years of
coaching golf at North Allegheny. I retired FROM coaching TO full time writing, just like Paula
advised me to do all those years ago. And now it feels right. I
enjoy writing this blog every week. I am starting a new book. And right now,
I am on the wings of a flurry of publicity for my new book, which
is available on amazon, Kindle, IBooks, Nook, and at www.dederittman.com
I was
even lucky enough to get some good press and free publicity from Kevin Gorman
at the Tribune Review. If you did not see his article and blog about my
career as a coach, teacher, and writer, here is the link. (It is quite
flattering). http://blog.triblive.com/ipreps/2014/10/07/life-lessons-from-the-bunny-teacher/
I share
all of this with you because I have found that it is important to
have something to look forward to each day and to continue to
contribute, even after retirement. Each person is blessed with many
talents, and I am happy to share my talents and ideas with others. I suppose
that the cliché is true: Once a teacher, always a
teacher.
Thank
you, Paula, my good friend, for your words of wisdom. Thank you, my
friends and readers, for allowing me to share my feelings and ideas with you.
I am
looking to advertise my book. I bought a book called 1001 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR
BOOK, and I have already begun to implement some of those strategies.
One line in the book struck me: MORE BOOKS ARE SOLD BY WORD OF MOUTH THAN BY ANY OTHER
VENUE. So, I am asking for your help. If you can help me to
spread the word and need more information, please visit www.dederittman.com . You can read an entire chapter on my website. I will share
this with you- a bus driver who took the NA team to a golf match read the book while we
were playing in the tournament. She told me that it was not just for
teachers, but that my book was a blueprint for how to be successful. I
promise you that it is a fast and a fun read. Any ideas or suggestions
would be welcomed. I need to get into colleges and universities, and would
appreciate any help from all of you. Thanks in advance for caring!
Best,
Dede
Rittman
Publishing, LLC
A note
about The Caring Bridge- it is a free site. Go to
www.caringbridge.org to set up your own site. This takes a lot of the stress off the caregiver, as updates can be written on a schedule or as needed. If you would like to visit
Scott's site. log in to www.caringbridge.org
In the site you want to visit, type
scottrittman as one word. You will be prompted to enter and email and to
create a password to use (they never send you any email). I posted many
pictures and updates, plus you can look at the Guestbook and see the many
messages that were left. My final entry in the site is the eulogy I wrote
and gave at Scott's funeral. I read it to him before he died, along with
his obituary, which I wrote on my IPad as he lay dying. The Caring
Bridge was a wonderful vehicle for us to use to keep everyone in the loop. If
one person benefits from knowing about this site from my blog, my writing/editing
time was worth more than gold.
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