Today is my dear spouse’s birthday. Reaching for the words to say something special, not said before, sincere, reaching deep into the soul and heart is something of a romantic challenge. It is so, not because it has been done so many times before, but because, as in searching out a gift, you want it to be one of a kind, totally unique, lacking in redundancy. Anniversaries are even more challenging. The need to be creatively original runs strong. You want the communication to say what you want it to say in words not frequently heard or read. You want to plumb the absolute depth of romantic emotion. You want the love message to whisper and then scream just how much and in what ways you count her as special, beyond comparison, no words can say it.

She and I have shared a lot of years, numerous occasions, even have grown too routine in our special occasions. But somehow, beyond the indifference that

Patricia Barry writes for the monthly AARP Bulletin. She did an exemplary job last month putting together a special section on Health Care Reform. One of the sections carries information about some surprises. SCJ believes it worthy to be reprinted here, with credit and kudos to AARP Bulletin and Patricia Barry.

There are five sections in the new health care reform law that are surprising, and not being talked about much. Here they are:

A post from Senior Citizen Journal, Senior Editor and CEO, Dr. Sharon Shaw Elrod… This has been an interesting day. My husband and I went to church and then had brunch with my elderly father and his wife. Great and memorable times together. Then we came home, Jerry to his mid-day nap, and me to posting […]

Adjusting to retirement is no small undertaking. I had the “privilege” to retire at 58. I am now approaching 72 and find that the years between then and now have not only flown, but the variables that have been introduced from year to year have been surprising, unexpected and characterized by change and upheaval. There is no such thing as a constant in retirement.

The earlier years were identified by specific plans and expectations that had been carefully laid out in the last year or so of our “working” life. We knew that we would be moving to another state. We had developed our dream house and had begun making the steps necessary toward its construction. We thought then that we had given consideration to all the implications of our retired existence. For the first year, we began putting in place all the details of

With all the bad news and increasingly sad events in our world, are you glad you are on the plus side of 70? I have often thought, as George Burns opined, that I’d like to be 18 again. Increasingly that desire or wish or fantasy seems less and less appealing. He lived long past 70 and lived well. Now, the opportunities for living are out there, but the circumstances seem to be less and less appealing.

The most horrifying tragedy currently stirring the waters, literally, is the huge disaster off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Humans, wildlife, economic conditions, employment threats and on and on have invaded a major part of the southern seaboard. Our need for energy has caught us in a trap from