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Today's Featured Biography

 
Linda Bergeson Jones

After 35 years of practicing law, I finally joined the ranks of the retired on December 31, 2021. I am still figuring out what that means. My granddaughters tell me it means I am “really tired.” After so many years reacting to my clients’ needs and whims, I find that I do enjoy reacting to my own.

Of course, the COVID years of lockdown interrupted a normal transition from full time work to retirement. I worked remotely. Both of my children were able to keep working, one from our home and one “essential” from her office. We named our home the “compound,” which isolated our three little families for most of two years. We shared many meals and had one grocery shopper for three households (Lu). The three younger granddaughters hung out at our house every day and our teen-age grandson joined occasionally. We tuned into on-line classes, enjoyed many arts and crafts, and went outside as much as we could for hiking, biking, swimming, and playing. It was a wonderful way to get through the pandemic. Now, post-pandemic, we find ourselves busy helping with after-school and summer activities. Being a full-time grandma has been a life change full of joy that I never imagined.

Both of our daughters live within five miles of Lu and I, and they both have fine gardens, both vegetable and floral. My Groveland farmer genes come in handy for that. We spend spring to harvest in the gardens and enjoy a wide variety of fresh vegetables, four kinds of berries, pears, plums and two kinds of apples. Lu has become an expert at baking pies and crisps, and I am the queen of everything tomato and zucchini. We fill an extra freezer with processed produce every harvest. I have also become an excellent (IMHO) rose pruner, iris splitter, rhododendron groomer, and general tree and shrub trimmer. We leave dandelions for the bees, and “spread sunshine“ as fertilizer.

Lu and I celebrated our Golden Wedding anniversary (2018) with a trip to Hawaii, completing our goal to visit all fifty states. We have traversed the USA on almost every east/west interstate highway and have driven many many local north/south and east/west roads, coast to coast, and even bits of Canada. Hawaii was the last state for me. We enjoyed lodging with great views, consumed too much wonderful food, and did absolutely nothing difficult for the days we were there. We drove around the island, took long walks along the beaches, enjoyed occasional dips into the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and watched whale spouts from our room. Quite a contrast to our honeymoon 55 years ago, spent snowed-in at West Yellowstone with -40 degree temperatures.

Both Lu and I rowed (crew) in our younger years (Lu way more than I, being a two-time Olympic rower, but I too competed nationally in those long boats). We still row nearly every day, now on our indoor rowing machines. Our “racecourse” is our “gym” above the garage. We are able to participate in virtual regattas and monthly challenges with other indoor rowers from around the world. I logged a million meters (621 miles) last year (completing the task in six months)!

The last five years brought other changes. I lost my father in early 2019. Lu and I both lost our mothers, within a month, in the spring of 2020. We now find ourselves in the oldest living generation of our immediate families. Along with the loss of parents came the loss (sale) of my family homestead in Groveland. That house will always be my “home,” even as others raise their families in it.

My, how the years fly. It seems like yesterday that we met for our 50th, indeed that we walked down the aisle to receive our diplomas! We may look more “mature” now, as we reflect in the mirror, but if we look closely into each other’s eyes we will still see the youngsters we were in 1968, so full of promise and sass. I look forward to catching up with everyone at the reunion. Let’s all plan now to attend our 60th, so we can share the changes of the next five years.

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