Rebecca Joins the Discussion
Here I am bringing some of the characters from my book The Handel Letters to life again to see what our thinking about Handel and his times might inspire in us today.
From Rebecca: Since Ross invoked my long-ago assertion that a good marriage depends on marrying the right person, I’ll respond to that—AND I will include a little about my life over the past ten years, something Ross weaseled out of yet again. Come on, Ross. We need to hear what you have been up to—besides grousing about marriage. So, with regard to that statement that a good marriage depends on finding the right person—I figure that is so obvious it hardly needs to be said. My first husband, Drew, was wonderful, and we had a great marriage, short though it was. However, I realize that the fact that our marriage was cut short may be part of the reason it was great. People change, circumstances change, and those changes may or may not keep things on an even keel. I like to think that Drew would have continued being a great marriage partner, but that may just be wishful thinking.
But, on to what I have been up to over the past ten years. My retirement from actually paid teaching was twenty years ago, so any strong connections to the University have pretty much faded away. I have become much more involved with volunteer organizations, though admittedly as I’ve gotten older, my energy is not as high as it would need to be to really be all that active. I do keep up on reading, especially on women’s issues, and I’ve occasionally written essays for various small-time publications just to keep my hand in. I really enjoyed the article Katherine mentioned earlier—the one about reading and the unfortunate disappearance of sustained reading in modern culture. As an anthropologist, I wonder what other cultures, cultures supposedly more primitive than ours, do that positively affects our brains the way reading does. Something to research, right?
You may remember that I have a son. It is possible that he may join us at some point. I will not say much more about him at this time. He is happily married and has two grown children with families of their own whom I adore and spend time with whenever I can. In addition, I have (as they used to say) a gentleman friend named Simon. He may join us later as well. Simon and I have travelled a bit, mostly about five or six years ago, but now we have settled into enjoying our life here in Bloomington, music, college students, and all. You may hear more from him at a later time. Meanwhile, I hope to run into some of you (as I have in the past) at concerts on campus and galleries or theaters around town.