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 to...
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...
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...
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...
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...
I feel like I beat the odds when I hiked the Mist Trail up Vernal and Nevada Falls in Yosemite National Park May 20, 2022. The odds? I figured the odds were against me because of my age - 86. I had had a total right hip replacement in October 2020. And I had not done...
In January of 2023, I will make 74 years young and my 10th year involved in the dragon boat community. But I wasn’t athletic until the age of 63. I was the oldest of eight kids growing up and I had a lot of responsibilities put on me, so playing sports was out of the...
Shortly before Thanksgiving, my dear 92-year-old husband died under hospice care in our home. Now I am looking in the rear view mirror at a relationship that started when I was 23 years old and Jim was 42 -– 19 years my senior –– he was already widely recognized as a...
In 1980, a devastating diagnosis changed my life –– for the better. I had a physically taxing job in the photocopy industry held by few women at the time, while struggling on the home front in an emotionally exhausting relationship. When I found myself dropping...
“When I grow up, I want to be like you,” I said to my daughter, Cami. I was 80 years old. With those words, an amazing journey was set in motion that included travel, exploration, inspiration, transformation, and the creation of my first-ever business. My daughter...
For a long time, I didn’t know who I was, what I wanted to do, or where I belonged. Married for 33 years and divorced at age 70, I’m clearer now than I’ve ever been. And who am I? An author, a spiritual seeker, and a solo world traveler. No one was more surprised than...
My birthday had come and gone when I moved to Santa Fe in 2001, but the following year, a former student asked what I’d like to do for my birthday. I didn’t hesitate. “I’d like to celebrate being 66 by hiking somewhere beautiful.” “Great,” he responded...