Retirement

Time to Explore

By Christine Trask

Mary Ellen Davey-Marino, a beautiful, reddish-blond retired career woman, the oldest of five children, one hundred percent Irish mother of two daughters, a grandmother, wife of thirty-six years, came to my tropical home to share with me her story of her transition to a happy retirement.

As a young girl, Mary was inspired by her parent's ballroom dancing and her family home that was filled with music from the big band era. Mary is proud of her parents who met at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. Her father was a World War II veteran and teacher of English, and her mother a fourth grade teacher.

"I was quite a tomboy who loved playing outside doing something physical such as climbing trees, playing football, and exploring in the woods," Mary said. As a young girl of eight years, she started tap and ballet. Over the years, Mary's active childhood came full circle when she achieved her degree in physical education and health. Teaching these subjects became her career, while married and raising two daughters.
Completing the first two chapters of her life, Mary entered into her retirement years saying to herself, "It is time for me to explore." At retirement, some of us initially experience a feeling of loss. One has to let go of what is familiar and routine in order to explore something new that will challenge one's mind, body, and spirit. Mary is grateful for paying attention to her own curiosity to get out of her comfort zone, and try something new.

She and her husband moved from Andover, Massachusetts, to Florida so they could enjoy the warm climate and golf. Being the active, goal-oriented woman she is, she found herself wanting more than to just play golf and needed to explore a different avenue of growth. With such a strong Irish heritage, Mary and her husband decided to go to Galway, Ireland, for a year so she could learn the Irish language.

After that accomplishment, she was searching for another fun outlet that allowed her to feel connected to a social life while using her physical energy that made her happy as a young woman. It was while watching "Dancing with the Stars" that Mary was inspired to check out Arthur Murray's Dance Studio in Naples, Florida. On January l0, 2013, at 4:00 p.m., she took her first free dance lesson. She then signed up for ten lessons and was hooked. Why? "It was an angelic, euphoric feeling like no other," Mary said with a huge smile on her face. "I am using my brain, body, and spirit and gaining a dance social family."

Mary's first teacher, Oleg Kharlamov, was from Moscow, and Mary explained that while it took time to build trust, she developed a strong teacher-student relationship with him and was sad when he left the studio to return home. She is now taking lessons from Andrea Marta, a gifted young dance professional and teacher from Italy. Training a year with each teacher, she felt fortunate for the high standard and the quality of their ballroom training and experience from Rome and Moscow.

Most of her life was spent raising children and working at her education and career. As the oldest in her family of five, she put a lot of responsibility on herself to be conservative and productive with her finances. Now she wants to have fun, and spend some of her hard-earned money and hopefully inspire others to create a life that provides joy, nurturance, and sustenance. Dance is one of the areas she is exploring that gives her happiness in her retirement years.