All right. Thank you for joining me today. Can you introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about yourself?

Sure. And thank you for having me. My name is Jenny Hazard. I'm 65 years old. I'm retired. I did retire early from a career in social work, mostly working with youth, and also worked a little bit with domestic violence and sexual assault recovery and prevention. So I've been on disability for about ten years now.

Okay.

And now I'm eligible for regular retirement. I don't know if that will make a difference, but I live here in River west, and I have two dogs and a lot of house plants and a garden. And I do work part time doing, like, cleaning and some caretaking with some elder neighbors. And that's about it.

Yeah. Did you always live in Riverwest, or did you grow up in other parts of Milwaukee?

We moved a lot when I was young, so I lived in several different states. Yeah. But since my own children were born 40 years ago, she'll be 42. So that's how long I've lived in River West. A little over 40 years.

Okay. Okay, cool. What are some of your interests and hobbies? I mean, you said you had a lot of plants.

Yes, plants and outdoor gardening as well. I like to write. I like to draw. I don't think I'm very good at it, but I enjoy it. It's something to do. Yes. Yeah, that's about it. I enjoy history.

I enjoy studying history, and as it gets a little harder to read older, but I can listen to audiobooks and watch a lot of documentaries and such.

Looking back, what are some of your life experiences that have shaped you the most?

Well, I had kind of a chaotic childhood, which I think probably led me to go into youth work when I was a social worker to try and, you know, assist kids who are going through some of the struggles that I had growing up. And I also ended up in a violent relationship, a violent marriage, and I really had to plan years, literally years, to get out safely. And I think that there are certain skills and things that you can pass on to other people that are in those situations that can help them build the strength and the resources that they need to get out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you for sharing that. Talking about today, how do you typically spend a day, and are there any routines or hobbies that are particularly important to you?

Well, typically, a lot of my day revolves around my elder dog, and he needs medical care, so I need to make sure his needs are met first thing in the day. I do volunteer at a plant store a couple days a week. So that takes up some time and that's really relaxing and wonderful. And it's helping someone who has a new business to get established.

Oh, this is a new plant store.

Yeah. Well, he's been there a year now in Riverwest, Harambe border, kind of. And I really like to support the local. It sounds trite, but I think it's super important to support our local independent businesses, you know, in this area. And especially as changes happen and, you know, bigger companies come in and buy things off. And we need to maintain our own businesses that people can run and have their own life and create their own life and their own income. I think that's really important.

Yeah, that's great. Okay, now let's talk about your health and well being. How do you manage your health and wellness as you age?