Discussing the stages of aging may seem like a trite, overworked exercise. However, it is a profound and persistent challenge to all of us as we reach 60 and beyond. It starts long before 60, but the magic of 60 is likely prompted by our having already been a member of AARP for a few years, considering retirement, looking at the issues surrounding medicare, experiencing a few health matters that remind us of aging, and knowing that the slope of the hill has changed from climbing to coming down off the mountain.

So we begin evaluating our own aging and what is in store for us. Birthdays, we admit, take on a different sheen. They are more grey and less red and blue and other exciting colors that remind us of happy childhood. Continuing to find ways to celebrate by marking the decades (who hasn’t had an over the hill party?) attempt to inject frivolity, an avoidance of reality, and an escape, at least for a

Aging brings with it a plethora of personal choices. If, when you were younger, you imagined yourself at a later age, that was a way of imaging who you would become. Some of us selected mentors, admired adults, persons’ qualities we found worthy of emulating. As we matured, we picked from among those impressions characteristics of our persona that we thought might work for us. The way we carried ourselves, our choice of dress and wardrobe, our mannerisms, our sense of etiquette, our personality were likely all influenced by persons we observed and admired.

Among those identities would be those we would fashion and improve upon in progressive stages. We don’t change our persona consciously, for the most part, and certainly not on a time line. It usually comes about gradually, sometimes without ready awareness that we are making or have made a change. Usually, but not always, it is for the better. Most of the time, most friends and family perceive the

It is a matter of course, of course, to come to that moment when it is simply unbelievable that we are, in fact, getting older. It is difficult, yea sometime impossible, to project myself as having been around for this many decades. It is stunning to discover how old and handsome and mature my grandchildren are. When did that happen?

Suddenly, here we are coping with the evidences of advanced aging. Our firends and acquaintances are all at the same place. The wrinkles we have earned, the posture we have assumed, the gait which moves us forward all betray our age. We are compelled to move more carefully, to remind ourselves to stand up straight, to keep a smile on our face to chase away those ugly wrinkles.

Every morning, nowadays, I awaken with another pain or the same pain hurting in a different location. I can hear the baby

A recent study from the University of Pittsburg suggests senior citizens can get valuable information about life expectancy, based on their age and gait speed.  Gait speed is simply how fast you walk.     The study looked at nine other studies from 1986 to 2000, using data accumulated from 34,485 seniors, aged 65 or older.  Their [...]

There are so many. Making such a list is probably unwise. Reflecting very long on such, about which nothing can be done, is really a colossal waste. It only reminds that there were many times you could have acted differently, chosen more wisely, challenged your sensitivities more bravely.

But now, that time is all gone. Literally, ALL gone. There is no retracing of steps except in regret or perhaps joy at having had those moments. Regret is a wasteful expense of time and emotion and energy. As one ages, the temptation increases to spend more time looking back. Some reflection is not so bad. Too much is debilitating. Right now, when things seem to be turning so sour, the pull seems stronger. Weren’t there better times? Weren’t there moments when just being with someone special was the most

Senior citizens everywhere search for the latest research, information and advice about the dreaded disease, Alzheimer’s.  It is fatal, eventually, and so far there is no cure.  It sometimes hits as early as the 50s; that kind is known as ‘Early Onset Alzheimer’s’.  For most who succumb to the illness, onset occurs in the 70s. [...]

I didn’t like basketball for a whole lot of years. If you had gone from one end of the court to the other, with everyone screaming, and finally realized it was because you hadn’t dribbled the ball at all, you might have felt a twinge of embarrassment too. But now, all these millenia later when that memory has been shared too many times and you know more about basketball than you did then, and you can watch in the comfort of a den on a 50″ screen, things change. The Suns whomped the Spurs and the next set promises to be equally stimulating. It is fun, at a later age, to come to the permission to enjoy such entertainment, skill and wonderful excitement.

Never a sportsman of any kind in any arena, it is interesting that I can give up my poor performance for the sheer joy of cheering on the team of my choice. Never one who ever was able to play, to excel at any sport, I can now

A safe formula retirees are recommended to live with is to spend less as you advance in age. That’s a worthy idea, but one that seems difficult to fit into today’s economy. We are doing our best by reducing expenses to the bare minimum. We do not impulse buy nor do we splurge in our spending. Monthly necessary expenses are kept to the minimum, but there are still those items that resist reduction and adjustment. Many seniors are in this situation, and today we have the following suggestions to offer:

* Keep a careful accounting of monthly outgo. Attempt to winnow it down where you can; the winnowing always seems to cry out for more expense and less reduction of costs. Take a look at clothing, groceries utilities; for most of us, medical costs are not negotiable; prescriptions and over-the-counter products are generally necessary. Look at any

When I turned 60, my husband had just retired.  He’d taught French and Spanish for 150 years and he was ready to do volunteer work and garden.  I was ready for a different adventure, but hadn’t quite figured out what that adventure was going to look like.  So when my youngest daughter asked me one [...]

With a new crisis emerging, erupting, exploding every day, one wonders how much more can the world endure? Perhaps the world is more resilient than we think, but to assume its ability to withstand repeated disasters may be more naive than wise. Denial seems to carry a lot of persons from day to day. It is as if this rotating ball will just go on forever. And, indeed it may. But how long will the world continue taking the heavy blows imposed by the behaviors of its inhabitants?

I am not a betting man, but if I were