Excitement often comes like a spark—unexpected, bright, and full of energy. Recently, three sparks have lit up my life.
A rediscovered spark. After nearly thirty years immersed in academia, I’ve returned to creative writing. It feels like a long-lost part of me has come home. This week I got news that one of my stories will be published in a book to be launched at the State Library of NSW in November. To see words I once thought lost find their way into print—that is a spark burning brightly.
A shared spark. At our College Open Day, two residents took the lead on a marketing project. They dreamed, designed, and delivered with a creativity that surprised even themselves. We stepped back, let them own it, and watched as their spark set others alight. Excitement spread across the campus, student to student, like fire in dry grass.
A future spark. My plans for retirement are slowly taking shape, though in truth I’ve already begun. Using accumulated leave, I’ve started bush regeneration training, and begun learning how to write life stories for the elderly. I dream of bushwalking, of writing short stories, of supporting postgraduate students in their research, of serving in my local church. These sparks are already flickering, and I can see the glow they will throw across the years ahead.
Three sparks—one rediscovered, one shared, one beginning to flame. Together, they remind me that excitement is less about circumstance and more about life’s fire being kindled again and again.
The Afterword 
Leave a comment