Kat’s University of the Third Age class timetable had changed somewhat recently. The French homework was too hard to keep up with, so she dropped that class. She still hadn’t watched the French movie she’d bought. She’d get around to it one day.
She dropped Wine Appreciation class when she realised she appreciated wine more when she knew less about it.
She had enjoyed the Bridge classes, but things got awkward. She was one of a group of four classmates to start playing outside of the classes. First, they’d met at Jim’s, a nice little unit in a retirement village. His wife had recently died but he still managed to keep the place pretty clean and tidy. Then it was Beryl’s turn. She’d put on a feast of fancy snacks and there were fancy coasters and doilies everywhere. When Edna hosted, her place was spick and span. Kat thought it looked rather sterile. Finally, it was Kat’s turn to host. The thought of having those new friends come to visit kept Kat up at night for three nights in a row. She rang them all to cancel, saying she’d caught COVID and then she bailed out of Bridge classes as well. She didn’t need them judging her.
Kat looked on the bright side. That left even more time for her two favourite classes, Patchwork and Preserving Antiques. She was learning lots, especially about antiques. She was a regular viewer of Antiques Roadshow too. It was amazing how many antiques were worth thousands!
One day, out of the blue, Violet emailed Kat a link to an article she’d read. “I thought of you,” she wrote. Kat clicked the link and realised she’d been manipulated again. The article was about hoarding. Kat thought, “Violet really should keep her nose out my business.”
But then three words in the article caught her eye and her attention. “Fixer Doer Maker”. The article talked about someone who collected things to fix, do and make. She thought, “Why would they talk about it like it’s a bad thing? I’m a Fixer Doer Maker. Now I’ve got stuff that needs fixing AND I’m learning how.”
At the weekend, when Kylie and Tiffany came to visit, she told them of her newfound identity. “You’ve made fun of me for years for keeping stuff. But you’ll see. I’m going to fix my parents’ old dining table. Then we’ll have Christmas lunch at that table. And next year I’m going to fix things and make things to sell. I’m a Fixer Doer Maker.”
Tiffany rolled her eyes and said, “You’re a Grandma Gunna. You’re always “gunna” fix and do and make, but you never get around to it.”
Kat huffed and Bill said, “Oh well, if that doesn’t work out, we can always have Christmas lunch at the Bridge table.”
PREVIOUSLY
Catch up on all the past Adventures of Kat here.
