Patricia Allan Retirement in 2005 from leading a busy city parish was approaching, just as grandchildren kept appearing. ‘I could write a book for grandparents’, I thought ‘something about the ritu-als that give children a sense of identity and belonging’. So that was the plan.  Three months after my church farewell, my husband was diagnosed with melanoma. He died a year later. The book idea persisted, even as I reinvented my life. On a U3A trip I met an older man just completing his BA Hons. degree and immediately thought ‘That’s what I want to do’. Next morning an 80yr old man on Radio NZ said ‘If you are thinking of going to university, don’t let age put you off. It’s got nothing to … [Read more...]