I have become elderly this year. No I am not older than my actual calendar years, yet society thinks I am now dispensable. The pandemic moved Boomers from the “in” group to oldsters, Actually, to a group to be discarded in nursing homes. With a moral shadow blighting the national conscience. As the virus decimated the…
Author: Carol Ann Heath, Ed.D.
Safety Packaging
There is very little that is more aggravating on a day to day basis as the frustration of opening packages of food, bottles of medicine, liquid bottles, and purchased over the counter drugs. Millennials take these inconveniences for granted, never really questioning the origin and implications for older Americans. In 1982, in the Chicago suburb…
Friendship Bracelet
A lovely complement as we are growing older are the young grandchildren in our lives. This past week I visited with my five-year old grandson. He was amassing friendship bracelets to give to his class on their preschool graduation day. He insisted I take one and wear it. A friendship bracelet is a decorative bracelet,…
Interpretations of Life
It is one of the inevitable processes of living, and it is one we prefer to ignore…we all will die. As blunt as that sounds, it is the preparation for this stage we are obsessed with as it approaches our rear-view mirror. Many find solace in the religious interpretation of what occurs when the body…
COVID Musings on Becoming Elderly
This is the year I came to the belated understanding that I am now elderly, at least in the eyes of others. I don’t feel elderly. The media and the Center for Disease Control continually referred to my age group in a somewhat deprecating and disparaging tone, assuming we had one foot in the grave and therefore…
Getting COVID Vaccine
Getting THE vaccine became a hammer-and-tongs preoccupation! If I could get any of the COVID vaccines, maybe someday I would be able to move about the world freely. I have so wanted to find a way to return to some measure of normalcy. In that, I am no different from everyone in the world. It…
Working Out: Exercise, before the pandemic and now!
Every morning I used to try to walk to the ocean and back. If we were camping, I walked the dog around the campground. If we were visiting children, a brisk walk around the block was the workout for the day. I threw in chair situps and light weights for the arms. Now, I have…
False Flag???
Usually, politics is something I can take or leave. Recently a recurring theme in reporting has been the phrase “False Flag.” This phrase meant nothing to me and factually means nothing. Looking it up does not provide contextual guidance. Wikipedia describes a false flag as an act committed to disguise the actual responsibility and blame…
Keeping Busy During the Pandemic
At certain points during this pandemic, I have wandered around, slightly unnerved by limitations of movement, no favorite restaurant dinners, few safe shopping opportunities, and feel vague and without direction. Oh, I can fill my time, but I have to build my daily schedule as a retiree. I do have a daily list of ToDos,…
Zooming
Until this past year, I never even considered zooming anywhere for maybe the past ten years. I used to work three jobs, and it took plenty of energy to zoom to work and then to teaching in the evening and home to writing all night long. This year I learned to Zoom. Really Zoom. Our…
Life Gets Better 