Arlene Okerlund has always trusted the detours. 

A Shakespeare scholar and professor of English, her life has been shaped by chance encounters, unexpected pairings, and a philosophy she sums up simply: “Serendipity rules.” 

Again and again, she followed curiosity—even when it didn’t fit neatly into a plan. 

One curiosity lingered for years. Every June during her childhood, when the carnival came to town, Arlene would hear live country-western music drifting from the stage. And every now and then, a banjo would cut through the noise. “When the banjo started playing, the music just sparkled,” she remembers. “I just loved it. I’d never heard anything like it—and I fell in love with it right then.”  

As a young mother, she bought a banjo on an impulse and hung it on her wall. And it stayed there for nearly four decades. 

In this episode of Young at Heart, Arlene reflects on what it meant to finally pick up the banjo later in life—and on the long, winding path that led her there. She talks about delayed passions, trusting instinct over ambition, and discovering that joy doesn’t disappear when you put it off—it waits. 

Young at Heart brings you stories of people navigating life’s transitions—stories that invite you to imagine what’s next. 

For Arlene, taking the long way wasn’t a delay. It was how she arrived.