Kim Ohman

Many years ago, when I was in my early- to mid-twenties, my mother-in-law told me about a friend of hers attending something called Elderhostel. I had never heard of it and, as she explained it to me, the smile grew larger and larger on my face at the prospect of learning in my later years, with no assignments and no tests. This had me almost longing to be older!

Flash forward to a yoga class in the fall of 2018 when a new friend of mine told me that she would be going to ELLA the following spring. I had never heard of ELLA and, as she explained it to me, I was instantly transported back to that earlier conversation in my twenties. I went home and immediately looked into the group and planned how to take enough vacation time from my job to actually attend since I was now in my early 50s.

I had the absolute best time at that spring session and made a couple of new friends. Subsequently, I told all of my co-workers about ELLA and planned to save vacation time to be able to attend again the following spring. The rest is now history. One of my co-workers has now retired and plans to come to her first session this spring, and I am so tickled to be able to see her experience not only the wonderfully vast array of classes but, just as importantly, the community that I now find myself in. I have recently started volunteering with the marketing committee to give back to this great organization and I look forward to many, many more years of exercising my brain and fostering my community.