Colleen O’Neill is one of the leaders behind the Edmonton Sole Circle, bringing together the first meeting of local Sole Sisters at a Boston Pizza in February 2024. A lifelong dancer, musician, mental health professional, and adventurer, Colleen now blends post-retirement travel with building community for women who love to Ramble.
Is there something you would like your Sole Sisters to know about aging from where you are right now?
I am turning 73 on February 15th, 2026. There are some things about being this age that I could never have predicted even a decade ago. I was always involved in dance, sports, and music alongside my 40+ years working in mental health.
Thankfully, I have never broken a bone, but soft tissue injuries can take a very long time to heal, and sometimes you simply have to work around your limits — a word I’ve never liked until I realized the alternative!
It was hard on my pride to have limitations and to feel vulnerable. Now I realize how lucky I have been to have lived such a varied life with so many rich experiences: SCUBA diving, ballet, singing, raising money for charities through athletic endeavours, and more! Gratefulness, instead of stubborn Irish pride, took a little while to arrive in my 50s and 60s
What age are you, and what age do you feel?
I am 72, and I feel like I am in my 20s. I have done a lot of brain research in my career, and I permit myself to feel so young because the brain finishes forming around age 25. This is a completely unsubstantiated theory, but I’m sticking to it!
What is the bravest thing you have ever done?
I was raised by a wonderful mother who did everything she could for me and my three siblings. My mother married my father in the United Church because their marriage would not have been recognized by her High Anglican Church or my father’s Catholic Church. It wasn’t until my father died, when I was 14, that I fully realized I had been raised by an Irish Catholic Sergeant Major father and a High Anglican mother who was “not allowed” to work.
So, on my 16th birthday, I got my driver’s license and a job at Zellers and soon moved out on my own. Funnily enough, I never regretted it for a day, thrilled to become the designer of my own life — not a common move in the 60s. Yes, some things terrified me, but I never doubted for a minute that I would be happy.
What 5 words would you use to describe yourself?
Fun-loving, spontaneous, interested, people-loving, happy.
What are the top 5 things on your bucket list?
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River cruising down the Rhine and the Danube
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Go to the Opera in Europe (or Prague)
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Continue to find open-minded women to travel and Ramble with
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Find the motivation to pick up my guitar and sing more regularly
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Find someone to organize my entire house! LOL!
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