My Parkinson’s Journey
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at 62. By that point in life I’d become convinced of the close brain-body connection, and what may possibly bypass it. Thirty-eight years before this diagnosis, I had a significant experience one evening while meditating: I was overtaken by an odd feeling in my body, related to my birth. […]
Moving Down the Road
After a lifetime of dreaming, a couple years of scheming and two weeks of intense searching, my wife Christina and I bought our Winnebago Travato this spring. It’s a beaut. A shiny gray 2022 Class B recreation vehicle with low miles in very good condition. After a few modifications, we drove it home and when […]
Reprioritizing Life After A COVID ‘Hard Stop’
It had been a crazy, relentless last few weeks in California. I was ramping up my coaching business, teaching virtual fitness classes, hiking daily, taking multiple dog walks, all wedged in with lunches, dinners and visits with family and friends. On Friday night we had a festive farewell dinner with friends followed by an early […]
Peace Corps Volunteers: Full Circle
I have always lived the paradox of desiring both home and adventure. This is how I walk my days. I go big into the world, sometimes weeks, months, even years. And then I come home. So it is that when I am living in Africa and awash in the wonder and joy of my life, […]
The Magic of Sisterhood
On November 4, 2023, I’ll complete my fiftieth trip around the sun. I cannot wait to celebrate this milestone, and I know that I have so much to look forward to. I’m lucky. I was born with a gift: I can see my future. I arrived in this world in 1973, the youngest of five […]
On Being Elderly
Elderly is not a number. Elderly is a physical and mental and emotional state of being. I was elderly when I was 35 but I’m not elderly now, at age 73. At 35, I became elderly overnight. I woke up one morning and I could not put my foot on the floor when I tried […]
The Next 20 Years
When I hit 55, I did a mathematical calculation about how many months, weeks and days I had in my life until I turned 75. That’s roughly 240 months, 1,042 weeks or 7,300 days, in case you wondered. Seventy-five years old! From the perspective of a 55-year-old, that seemed like the outside range of being […]
Dynamic Aging 4 Life
What do Grandma Moses and I have in common? We both chose to create something new in our lives and in the world that didn’t exist before. We did this when people might have considered us “old.” We were both 78. That is the age when Grandma Moses began her life as a serious painter. […]
Satisfaction
Every ten years or so, I find myself watching Mick Jagger fling himself across the stage like a possessed puppet. With wild-eyed ferocity, he postures and prances in the spastic style he alone owns — a style still so vital it’s a mind boggle that he’s been doing this for more than half a century. […]
The Joy is in the Journey
At 63 years old, I retired and relocated from California to Oregon with my husband, who was soon to retire. This would be the city we both live in for the rest of our lives and we would be closer to our daughter. And then the COVID pandemic began in earnest. Our move began five […]