An engaging writer, Douglas uses an amusing array of mass marketing and mass media images that either downplay or distort the lives of older women. She spends a chapter looking into the “anti-aging industral complex,” a behemoth whose global sales are estimated to reach $192 billion.

I truly enjoy quiet time for contemplation, meditation and relaxation without having to “do something.” Time goes by quickly when you’re not forcing it to pass.

Photo from the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland

I find myself now trying to occupy the space between the intersection of things that matter in my life and the things I can control.

Painting by Susan Reynolds

We needn’t know any more about the recipients than that they, too, are sometimes tired and scared in the midst of this pandemic and need something to hold onto as a reminder that we’ll make it through this—one act at a time.

Now I have a phrase for the wisdom my mother showed me by deciding to stop playing piano, close her business, and focus on her priorities. I call it “traveling light”, or leaving the “shoulds” behind.

I lived disco in its heyday in New York City in the late 1970’s.

My job is to bear witness, to guide and record, and, in most cases, be present at the time of death. The dying person decides.

Are we patient enough, trusting enough to keep moving when we don’t have all the answers? Or does the drive for perfection get in the way? How we puzzle reflects how we live.

Had I not been home with my family that morning, Barbara could have found herself making funeral arrangements for her father—and me.

In these uncertain, unnerving times, it is vital to treasure small, yet important, experiences and find our own sense of connection.

Photo courtesy of Pam Haskell

Wilhelmina had just gotten used to living alone when a neighbor lost control of his car and nearly plowed through her family room.

I live in southern Arizona close to the US/Mexico border—the eye of the hurricane. Each week I drive to Nogales, Sonora, and listen, serve, and watch the crowds of people patiently waiting for their turn to plead for asylum. It is the last thing I thought I would be doing at the age of 77.

What road are you on now? Can you look in the rearview mirror and appreciate the distance you’ve covered from one stage of your life to the next? How do you know you will like where you end up?

Terryl has taken on-call work during the upcoming elections. It’s a calling—her way of changing uncivil discourse in politics—and it’s a necessity, because she needs the money.

A contributing writer describes her determination to be relevant and visible as she ages.

Eight leading national aging associations want to spur a conversation about how we think and talk about aging. They call it Reframing Aging.

Whenever anyone asked my mother how she was doing, she would unfailingly respond, “Grand, thanks.” I’ve noticed lately that most people have these default settings.

Geriatrician and author Louise Aronson has a new name for older people. It’s elderhood—the time of life following childhood and adulthood.

Kathleen and I meet monthly for coffee at a supermarket Starbucks near her house.  For a public place, it is surprisingly private.  There are a few wooden chairs and tables where you can sit quietly and talk freely and frankly.