Role Model

Glenda Balint Powell

She is one of the few women I have known in my life who have actually, completely retired.

She and her husband Steve married, had SIX kids, and both held down full-time jobs; she taught elementary school music and speech, and he taught elementary physical education and was a swimming coach at the high school.

They both worked hard, but Glenda (or Jodi as Steve called her) worked harder. She did all the shopping, errands, doctor appointments, after school stuff her kids were in, made meals three times a day, every day, for 8 (packing lunches for everyone every school day.) She had no help for cleaning the house, kept all the clothes clean, etc. She worked from before the sun came up till way past bedtime to keep up with everything.

I became close to the family because Steve was my 6th grade gym teacher, and then I taught swimming with him every summer from the time I was 14 until I graduated from college.

They went to Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma each weekend to rest, relax, and teach the kids to water ski. They put all the kids through college, supporting them in whatever they wanted to do.

When the children were out of school and the house, Jodi and Steve bought a piece of land right on the lake and went every weekend to build a home there. This took several years. They did as much of the work themselves as they could, hiring experts when necessary.

They finally sold their home in Tulsa and moved to the house at the lake. And Jodi announced she was going to retire.

This meant, for one thing, she was no longer going to cook unless she really wanted to. In the mornings, for lunch, and for dinner, if the weather was amenable, they would get into their small boat tied up at the dock by their house and motor across the lake to the diner that unofficially reserved “their table.” She and Steve would divide up the household chores and they would do the shopping together.

They invited us to see the house after they had been settled for awhile. I have to tell you I was shocked by Steve’s appearance. He was wearing actual clothes, not the swimming trunks he wore for years when I knew him best. And he had hair! Long white really great-looking hair! He had always shaved his head while he was teaching gym, swimming and coaching because it was simpler. I had trouble grasping the idea of a “new” Steve. And both of them looked relaxed and happy.

The house was really nice, a great combination of “sturdy” and “open to nature” to enjoy the location. Steve had made a humongous flower garden where Jodi raised every color imaginable of zinnias, her favorite flower. It was the prettiest display I’ve ever seen. We took the boat across the lake to share lunch with them. It was a delightful day, topped off by a bottle of zinnias Jodi had gathered and put on the floor of our car while Steve was showing us what he was working on.

Both Steve and Jodi are gone now. Jodi married a man whose last name was Powell. We went to the wedding – a combination of Jodi’s 8 kids, and a slew of Powell kids, as well, all having parts in the wedding as they combined their two households. Jodi looked radiant, with a ring of flowers in her hair.

Jodi is my role model of the way it could – and should be – at retirement. Most women shed their full time jobs outside the home, but continue cleaning the house, washing the clothes, cooking the meals, doing yard work, helping the husband with whatever he is doing – all the stuff she had done for years. It can be better.

In my personal life, I’m actually retired. The fact that my Harvey is in a nursing home is the cause of some of this, but after cooking 3 meals a day for over 56 years, packing lunches for work and school, Brian and I have something delivered for breakfast and dinner. We can cook if we want to, but it’s easy and quite inexpensive to order and just go downstairs to pick it up. I have the first housekeeper I have ever had in my life. I get massages every Friday. I get mani/pedi’s and haircuts. I choose what to do with my days.

I hope Jodi is smiling at me and cheering me own as she looks down at me.