For a successful retirement, get a dog and join your neighborhood association

Patricia Dooley at Outdoor Movie Night

"For a successful retirement, get a dog and join your neighborhood association."

That's what Patricia Dooley advises.

She says "When I worked, I only had time for work - being at work, getting ready to go to work, commuting to and from work."

Once she retired, she wanted a different life. She had not owned an animal, feeling that it was not fair to leave one alone so much while she was at work. She wanted to be around animals before getting one of her own, so she volunteered for PAWS in Lynnwood.

"I'm there six days a week. There are usually 40 dogs and they get walked twice a day. I love being there and I help with whatever is needed."

Soon she fell in love - with a three-legged, miniature poodle she met at PAWS. She adopted him and started walking her own neighborhood with her new dog.

"When I was working, I never knew my neighbors. I started meeting people and talking to them. Soon I was volunteering for the local P-Patch."

At the P-Patch, she met a member of the Ballinger Neighborhood Association who told her that they needed a secretary for the organization. Patricia volunteered.

"The neighborhood association is wonderful," she said. "I am learning to understand my own city and learn about how things are done." She volunteers with the Bruggers' Bog weeding parties on Saturday mornings, helping to remove invasive plants and restore the wetlands. She is involved with the Friends of Aldercrest, hoping to preserve the open space for kids to play, for people and dogs to walk the track, and for Outdoor Movie Night. (see story). She is delighted that the plans were dropped which could have placed a King County jail on the site.

Patricia is fully involved in her neighborhood, her community, and her dogs. "Get a dog and join the neighborhood association," she advises, "for a happy and productive retirement."

To find out how to join your neighborhood association in Shoreline, see the Neighborhoods website.