Tiffany’s words once again rang in Kat’s ears. This time her wise granddaughter convinced Kat that there was hope in the future yet.
Meanwhile, Bill had made it known that he resented Kat spending up big whenever she volunteered at the op shop. Bill doesn’t understand that you’ve got to spend money to save money.
After Kat’s op shop friends didn’t offer much support when Bill and Kylie had turned on her, she was enjoying her time there less and less. So, she made the decision to quit.
With extra time on her hands, and a newfound drive to create new memories, Kat’s online research brought her to the University of the Third Age. There was no end to all the interesting classes she could enrol in at U3A. She wasted no time and signed up for French, Patchworking, Wine Appreciation, Bridge, and Art History.
Kat’s new mindset was that you’re never too old to learn, and it would be nice to spend time with like-minded people. Bill was relieved. Kat would be occupied with more than just shopping, and with the patchworking class, she might even use up the stash of fabrics she’d been storing for years.
With so many classes to juggle, Kat decided to get organised. She went to the office supply store and bought a large whiteboard and markers in five different colours to keep track of the schedule. While she was there, she decided to grab five binders in matching colours to keep all her notes. And of course, she would need page dividers and sticky notes. Right by the checkout she spotted the cutest set of sparkly pens and added that to the pile.
Bill sighed when she walked in the door with her supplies. He should have seen it coming. Well, he thought, at least she won’t need to buy much else. What could you possible need to play Bridge other than a deck of cards?
Oh, how wrong could he be? He found her searching online for a Bridge table. He was adamant. “No way, Kat. You don’t even know if you like the game yet. And where do you think you’d fit it?”
To help with her French class, Kat went to the bookshop and found a translation book. At the supermarket she found a discounted DVD of a French movie and grabbed that. Hearing the language would help her to pick it up quicker.
The bookshop also provided a lovely book about art history and a heavy tome about wine appreciation. The last mentioned a particular style of wineglass for red wine. Kat had no idea they’d been drinking red wine from the wrong glasses all these years.
Even Kat’s stash of patchwork fabric wasn’t enough to quench her thirst for more stuff. She claimed there were new supplies required and wouldn’t be told otherwise.
After the first week of classes, Kat was inspired but tired. There was so much to keep up with. The French teacher insisted on 30 minutes of homework each day. Bridge had been trickier to understand than she imagined, but she wasn’t going to give Bill the satisfaction of being right on that score. She did however decide to switch Art History class for Preserving Antiques.
Bill joked, “Oh I think I look pretty good. I don’t need preserving.” Kat said seriously, “No Bill. I just realised that we can do some really good things with my parents’ old furniture. We could have done even more if you hadn’t made me get rid of most of it.”
Bill wasn’t even taking the classes and he was already exhausted.
PREVIOUSLY
Catch up on all the past Adventures of Kat here.
