Leah Dobkin’s New Chapter
My new front yard.
I have been behind in my blogs, but I have a good excuse. I have been downsizing from a four-bedroom home in Shorewood, Wisconsin to a two-bedroom apartment overlooking a harbor and boats in quaint Stuart, Florida, six miles from the ocean.
This autumn, my son went to college, and I rented my Shorewood home to a doctor and his young family. I became a new empty nester without a nest, but soon secured a new nest in Florida near my parents. I continue to rent my log cabin in Black River Falls and write peoples’ legacy letters. However, I am also expanding my writing services to include memoirs and business and organizational histories with an important legacy twist. I plan to visit my log cabin in Wisconsin this summer and do a few legacy letter writing workshops and presentations around the United States. If you would like me to present to your group, let me know. I also can craft peoples’ legacy letters via phone or skype interviews. If you are looking for a very special alternative holiday gift for your parents or grandparents, I’m the gal that can make that happen! Call me about legacy letter gift certificates.
On a more somber note, Milwaukee Magazine just published, in their December’s issue, an essay I wrote about my daughter, who died of a heroin overdose. Here’s a link to the essay. I hope the essay will wake up parents to the heroin epidemic right under all our noses. I am going to volunteer with a wonderful organization, based in West Palm Beach, called NOPE- Narcotic Overdose Prevention and Education. To honor my daughter Hannah Rose, I am also volunteering at the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart. I am learning to be a stingray guide, Hannah’s favorite fish when she volunteered at the aquarium in Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
It’s a scary and exciting new chapter in my life. I feel like an older version of Mary Tyler Moore in her sitcom. Look down the café-lined street in Stuart, and there I am twirling and throwing a beach hat in the air. I try not to gloat when I hear the weather forecast back home. Yet, I do miss the people and spirit of Milwaukee.
Most Warmly 🙂
Leah