“I'm going to walk the Appalachian Trail!” my 70-year-old younger brother Ron announced in January 2018 while I was hiking with him on a trail outside of St. George Utah, where he had lived the last four decades "Since Edie died a few months ago I have been...
Stories
Kaleidoscope of Dynamic Aging
Reflecting on aging is like turning the kaleidoscope a notch, where each turn reveals a different pattern. At the beginning of the pandemic, I decided to return to school at the age of 61 for a Master’s Degree in Public Health. In 2020 I was worried that if the...
Epiphany on My Bike Seat
It’s a beautiful morning in early September here in New Mexico. I’m on my road bike with members of my cycling group. Well, not with them, more like following them as they speed ahead of me. I try to keep their bright jerseys in sight. Our route is mostly flat, giving...
Writing My Way Home
I was already in my sixties when I first began to write my memoir The Coconut Latitudes. The last of my closest family members had died and I was just beginning to consider (and worry about) my own mind failing me as I aged, and whether our family story would die with...
Forgiveness and Gratitude
After losing my beloved husband of 65 years in 2016, I remained in our beautiful home overlooking Rose City Golf Course in Northeast Portland. Our six children, their spouses and children – and even their children – had loved this home for 31 years, too. Why leave,...
You Can’t Make New Old Friends
I retired in 2020. It had been six months since the death of my first husband, the father of my children, and eight months since I lost my husband. I had to admit a lot of changes had taken place and retirement was one more big adjustment. I told myself I didn’t need...
Ranger’s Walk Across America
I joined Ranger Kielak for a 9-mile walk yesterday in the final week of his Walk Across America to raise money for charity. Ranger’s journey started in March 2024 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with a goal of walking 3,000 miles through 10 states to raise $100K for...
Why Don Fay Writes Senryus
People ask what inspires the senryus that I write. Not with humility, but with the truth, my senryus are to some extent inspired by a basic ineptitude that I have. My high school English teacher graded my essays and creative writing with two grades: one for content...
The Time to Say Yes
Fourteen years into retirement and I just figured out I’m allergic to a firm, structured, committed schedule. I’m in awe of my retired friends my age who volunteer on the same day at the same place for 10-plus years or take the same fitness class on the same day each...
Pushing the Envelope
This May I turned 86 and my list of things I want to BE, DO and HAVE continues to grow. I guess I thought someday the list would dwindle or disappear. But it hasn’t. My curiosity keeps pushing the envelope to discover what is possible – physically, mentally,...
My Body, Myself
When I graduated from high school in 1970, the book “Our Bodies, Ourselves” hit the shelves and caused an instant sensation. Young women like myself, who up until then had only brief and whispered discussions about sex, could read in bold print and see explicit photos...
A Lifetime of Protecting Dolphins
As a child, I was always fascinated by the ocean and marine life, especially whales and dolphins. I grew up in Walnut Creek, CA, a few hours from the coast. My mother shared her love for the ocean and made sure her children spent lots of time at the beach. Weekends...