Free Time and Volunteering

Friday night, I was at a lecture with my daughter at Seattle Central College given by the actor Jesse Eisenberg and writer Sherman Alexie. Outside the auditorium, there was piano and someone was playing what sounded like Chopin. I have no idea what they playing, but they played loudly and with passion. I thought to myself, I wish I could play the piano. Then I thought, I have a piano.  I could learn to play. 

This begs the question of what will I do now with all of my free time. Should I learn to play the piano? Should I look for a paying job? Should I quilt until I go blind? Should I starting running and get some real exercise? Should I go back to trying to write? If I do write, what should I write about?

The two biggest questions I have are Should go back into education? and Should I ever volunteer again? Right now, I am leaning towards a very emphatic no for both. Back when I was a freshman in college, I had told a friend of mine that wanted to marry someone who made a good living, and then volunteer. She chewed me out that that was not a feminist way of life. Women should pursue their own careers and get paid for their work. I thought Oh my god she is right! What am I thinking? And I did have a reasonable career for many years after college.  I figured out what I enjoyed doing and worked hard. I wasn't phoning in a career until Jack finished his medical training and then I could sit around eating bon-bons. And then...

The line from John Lennon's Beautiful Boy seems to be so true: "Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans." Life got in the way, and I somehow became a volunteer against my grander plans.

So I know what I don't want to do, but there lies a vast path before me, full of time, and deciding how to spend it. I realized listening to the lecture was how much I like to write, and how much I have the practice and habits of writer, and I never really saw it coming. Someone in the audience asked Jesse and Sherman about their writing practice. They both don't have a practice, but rather they need to write or else they will explode. Jesse said he writes about things he needs to write about, even if it might go against his better judgement.  In his book Bream Gives Me Hiccups, he writes restaurant reviews from the perspective of a nine year old whose parents are recently divorced. No one asked him to write about that, but he did anyway. I suppose that is what happens when we have free time, and spend it in the ways we wish.

At the same time, there are many things we do not because we love them but we do them because they need to be done. I read an article recently that said "Do what you love" is worst career advice ever.  Most people would want to sit around reading books, doing yoga and knitting. If that were true, who would mine coal or run for School Board?