As a youth I had plenty of time but no money. Once I went to medical school and then as an intern, I had neither time nor money. As I aged, my career was profitable, so I had money, but no time. Now in retirement I’m blessed with both time and money, with the hopes that my health holds out so I can enjoy them both.
I retired in June of last year. Well, one might call it retirement. The powers-that-be told me I was too old to be an E.R. physician any longer (not in those words of course). In retrospect, they were probably right. While I miss the excitement and therapeutic interventions of that environ, the twelve-hour shifts, all the new medicines and technologies, and the interventionist focus of the younger doctors forced an old dog into the boonies. Now I work two days a week at walk-in clinics, where my years of diagnostic acumen serve me well. It’s low pressure, plenty of time to sit and talk with my patients, a truly pleasurable end-of-career platform.
COVID’s been the big bug-a-boo. Since retiring, I’ve worked in fourteen different regular walk-in clinics and COVID pop-up sites. At sixty-eight years old, I’m at higher risk of having severe outcome when I catch it, so I took the vaccine and boosters. As far as I know, I haven’t caught it yet, despite near constant exposure. Hey, I wear a mask! I certainly sympathize for those who have suffered from this plague, but personally COVID has been good for me, supplying employment and changing the focus of my travels from international to more local trips.
On my many local trips this year, I’ve been creating YouTube videos. One needs 1000 subscribers and 10,000 views a month to qualify as an influencer, and I’m at about 15% of those level, so I recognize, like my writing, this is just a hobby. But I love making these videos. This year I produced 16 movies, including travel shots from Colorado, Florida, Boston, Indiana, and Wyoming. If you’re interested, please check out and subscribe at Philip Levin's YouTube Videos.
This year my writing hobby has focused on taking my Masters Course. A two-and-a-half-year program I’m taking online from Southern New Hampshire University, I’ll finish up in May. The thesis for the course is to write a novel, and mine, Underwater Gods, is a Young Adult mermaid fantasy. 18-year-old Michael builds a submarine and discovers the world of merfolk where he falls in love with a mermaid. Together they must save the world. Yeah, corny, but lots of fun. It won’t be out until the end of next year or 2023. I also finished the first draft of my autobiography, I Saved Lives, my 42 years as an E.R. doctor. Otherwise, my publications have included a few magazine articles here and there.
Although I have a website www.Doctors-Dreams.com where I offer my books for sale, most of my book sales come in face-to-face interactions at arts and crafts show. The spring sales were all cancelled because of COVID, but in the fall I had several successful months, overall selling 1200 books this year. This, with my YouTube travel videos, serves less as supplemental income, but rather as an excellent tax deduction.
For the holidays, I’ll travel to Denver to visit my grandkids, three-year-old Clark and the brand-new Amelia Rose. Their parents, Lauren and Galen, enjoy the big open spaces of Colorado, although a little less so this year with all the smoke from the California forest fires. Lauren has been searching for the right nursing job that still leaves time for childrearing. My middle child, Steven, and his mate, Emily, are stay-at-home millenniums, both doing computer jobs from their home in Durham. She’s a woodworking furniture maker for her hobby, while Steven is devoted to their Corky, Ester. Katie Rose, my oldest, and her husband, Don, are environmentalists in Durham, serving on committees and lobbying groups. These are such important roles, as climate change threatens to make Earth uninhabitable.
My two older brothers are toying with retirement. Michael, the world traveler, has been working from home in Hawaii during COVID. He developed programs and employs statistics for countries to analyze their censuses. Alan and his wife, Melisa, live in a Florida high-rise overlooking the beach, taking daily walks and relaxing in the coastal breezes.
Isabelle, my French girlfriend, loves having free time to enjoy our home and our travels. We wake up laughing and continue in good humor through our travels together and the parties we host. Her older daughter, Claudia, married her love, Stewart, on Halloween. They’re living in central Mississippi and enjoying successful DINK lives (Double Income No Kids). The younger girl, Charlotte, finished her first semester at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota. She’s specializing in illustration and has agreed to illustrate one of my children’s books, so a new project for us both for 2022.
I’ve titled this letter “A Year Older” for basically that’s all the difference I’ve noticed. Yes, I’m older. I had a few minor pickleball injuries, a handful of unexpected expenses, and the birth of a new grandchild, but mostly there hasn’t been a lot of memorable events this year. I suppose that’s a good thing. I hope your 2021 has brought joy and peace to you as well.
With best wishes for the new year, Philip.