It's retirement time in my life, something I was always looking forward to, dreaming of. It use to be that when you retired, you get to travel and join clubs, spa's. Boy has time's changed!
I do believe that it's a must to make changes at retirement time.With the economy down and so many changes in the world today, I see my retirement as an opportunity to Follow My Passion. So I have put the three P's in place, it's time to go after my love and passion.
The 3 P's ( Putting things in order )
1.Passion
2.Planning
3.Pro-active
I have always been in retail work for the past 30 years. I learned and grew in the retail field from Counter sales,Cruise ship retail at sea, Retail store manager to Retail Field manager. I was laid off with 135 other of my retail employee's this year 2009. Came as a shock , unprepared, scared. Left me feeling dislocated, detached, Miss placed, dumped in the work field at my age. Seemed that no one cared, except my family and myself. I have had to pull myself up by the pants and move forward on my own.
In June 2009
I had a dream, it was a special dream and it took my a week to figure it out. My dream was being spoken too, the message was " I gave you two things" What two things, my mind was searching all over the place, then on the way to my Church Volunteer work, it came to me, my two things was creativity and passion. I love arts & crafts, I paint rocks, make wreaths, ribbon angels,and best of all, COOK. WOW.. That's it!!!!
I always enjoyed cooking, it gave me such great joy to prepare food for others and watch them enjoy eating it. I always bought cook books, read and tried new receipts. The Food Network is my favorite show. I''m going into this with confidence, my family & friends have always told me that I don't look or act my age and they all love my cooking.
I would like to be a chef for a hospital, retirement home, mission and or I would love to work in a Diner, Cafe. My other dream, passion is to own a Diner. My son is attending The Culinary Art Institute, he has always had a passion for cooking, Maybe it was the days where he stood on a step stool and we always cooked together.I was worried what my Son's response would be when I told him I'm going to Culinary School. To my surprise, he is very excited and supportive. He has been attending the Culinary Of Arts for 12 months now, so now it's my turn to pull up that stool to stand next to him. Funny how life runs it coarse.
Now, I'm laid off, zero opportunities in the retail work field, I depend on career centers to help me find work, many interviews, I have driven many miles for interviews. One time I was on the freeway and my back tire flew off, I lost control, driving 55 mph on 3 wheels, whew!, enough said.
My 3 P's
Passion: Cooking, I love to cook and could sent hours in the kitchen. Cooking seems to calm/relax me, makes me feel good about myself and life.
Planning/Resourcing: I took a few days to visit, tour Culinary schools. Research on the web, exploring whats out there for me. Prices were high and I want to add, worth it for a full future of Culinary Career.
If I was younger, I would invest, take a loan, work PT jobs on the side. I lay awake at night, seeing myself in Culinary school, living my dream. I was laid off and no way could I make loan payments, so my passion/dream was put on hold, UNTIL, in June of this year I drove by a former restaurant, now closed, I saw a big white sign that said Culinary Arts School, I was driving and couldn't see if there was additional info. I drove by a few more times during the week and saw nothing. I asked a few friend in the area to let me know if they see the sign to see if there's more info for me to follow up.
Pro Active: I found out that this Culinary school was part of a Community College. I went on line and was able to pull up the Culinary program. I went to the college, filled out my application and was set up an appointment to register for Culinary classes.
As I was standing in line to register, I really stood out, I was the oldest in the group, I did feel awkward, but I kept saying to myself, this is for me & cooking, stay focus. I went to a new student 3 hour work shop last week. I thought this was a one on one counseling for new students, to my surprise it was a class room with 45 students, again I felt odd being the oldest in class, but I reminded my self this is for me & my passion....
My classes are scheduled except for the one ( the most important ) Knife Skills. I'm on a wait list and pray I get in this class.
My classes start the last week in August 2009.
Schedule:
Culinary Safety & Sanitation
Culinary Intro
Culinary Fundamentals 1
Knife Skills ( wait list )
There are 9 more classes to complete my course, but my schedule is manageable, and affordable. I should be a certified chef with in a year.
I have bought a few books for my Pre Culinary classes
The Making Of A Chef by Michael Ruhlman. This is a great book, it has given me the real scoop and insight of the functions from start to end in the Culinary School technique and process, I have learned so much form this book. Example, the difference between stock, broth and the standards of stock-Example, Flavor,Clarity,Color,Body,Aroma. All this info excites me and easy for me absorb. I have two other books lined up by Michael Ruhlman. "The Reach Of A Chef" and "The Elements Of Cooking.
I will update my blog as my Passion, Love of cooking moves forward. I'm excited, One more week and then it's all going to come true, to complete my rainbow.
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