Welcome,
Fordim! My, what impressive credentials, indeed! And that is a beautiful moment as well. Very life affirming.
I'm curious what your LotR article was about! My BA is in English Lit/Literary Criticism, so that does interest me. (Never got my Master's as the main Prof I planned to study with died unexpectedly. I kind of lost my inspiration after that.)
Another thing I
used to do that made me think of Tolkein is study Kendo, which is the art of samurai swordsmanship. I was doing really well with it until my Sensei had a nervous breakdown and had to go away. After that I wasn't able to find another instructor who was quite as good, then I moved, etc, etc. It is something I would like to take up again someday.