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December 20

How a senior rediscovered her love for ballet in retirement

Canadian Joanne Stuart, now based in Mexico, with husband Jim Stuart, at Blarney Castle, Ireland, in September, 2022.

Joanne Stuart, 70, retired at age 59 after working as a career development professional in the Barrie, Ont., area. A few years before that, she a month off work so she and her husband Jim and I could spend time in Mexico.

“We were considering moving there in retirement and wanted to see if it would be a good fit. A year later, I asked for two months off to go back again, and my employer asked me if I was interested in retiring. I saw myself working for at least three or four more years, but then Jim and I thought about it more and decided it was time,” says Ms. Stuart in the latest Tales from the Golden Age article. Her husband had retired a few years earlier from a career in real estate.


“I remember the first day of retirement very clearly,” she adds. “It was a Monday, and I was walking down the road near our former home in Penetanguishene, Ont., with this tickle in my stomach. I felt free. I felt childlike, realizing that I could do whatever I wanted all day for the rest of my life.”

Read the full article here including how Ms. Stuart took up ballet and acting in her new home in Ajijic, Mexico.


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