“Sue, I’m frustrated. I can’t figure out what I want to do with my life.”

“Janey, I’m soon to be 78 years old and don’t want to know what I want to be when I grow up.”

“You? You’ve already self-actualized. You’ve done this, and this, and that. Me? What have I done? What can I do to leave my legacy?”

“What is it that you want to do?” I asked.

Jane sighed, “I don’t know. I need you to help me. I did the Mom duty, and I did the executive assistant job in my husband’s office, but things are different now. Our kids are grown, my husband is winding down his business, and all I do is read and waste my time.”

I smiled. I, too, had experienced this sense of uselessness, like I was stealing food and water from folks in need. “First, this English teacher has never considered reading as a waste of time. Now with that said, there is a vast number of organizations who need you. You just have to decide what you want to do.”

“I’m 65! What do I have to offer?”

I stifled my laugh, “Your gift of time, Janey. What you don’t realize is this world is not the world in which we grew up with the stay-at-home-parent who was the homeroom mother, the Girl Scout leader, the softball coach, the field trip chaperone. The public schools don’t have the financial resources to pay for one-on-one tutors and youth organizations are dying for lack of leaders.”

“I hate to sign up for something and then find I don’t like it. I’d be letting people down.”

“By your own admission, you want to do something. There are a myriad of opportunities for volnteers.

The only thing missing is: U.”