Always one to appreciate the many traditions of the season, decorating remains my most cozy memory with my family. As traditionalists we did not display or light the decorations until the Friday after Thanksgiving. Of course, we started with the outdoor lights, decorating the front bushes, and hanging lights along the gutters. Waiting until dark to adjust the…
Category: Boomers
Growing Older, Gracefully and with Joy!
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
COVID Vocabulary continued: Virtual Hug, Fist Bump, and Social Distancing
In the interest of documenting the changes in our everyday vocabulary, I periodically have been examining the common use of previously loosely associated phrases. I mean, for goodness sake, who went around saying to close friends, “let’s have a virtual hug?” Having a good squeeze was one of the loveliest expressions of caring between friends,…
I Got Vaccinated, WAHOO!
I did it! I was not sure that my resolve would translate into access to an appointment for the COVID vaccine. We showed up for the appointment at the FORUM in Ingleside, CA. Obviously, this is a mass vaccination site. It was amazingly well managed. It was easy to find the entrance and there were…
Yes, It Could be Worse!
With a saddened yet not time distant response, I feel this period of turmoil IS WORSE than the 60s. Rioting is not uncommon in American history. Storming the US Capitol and attempting to destroy the seat of government has not happened since the War of 1812 when the British burned the Capitol. The country’s emotional…
Life Gets Better 