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Gifts of ‘engagement’ and ‘experience’ are hard to beat
Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, December 7, 2018 Buying a Christmas gift for friends or relatives in their bonus years can be a challenge. For example, what kind of gift do you buy for the bonus years empty-nester who is already downsizing? What do you get people who have…
Life is an adventure every day, even in the bonus years, if you make it one
Unabridged from my weekly Bonus Years column the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, November 9, 2018 Most of us came face-to-face with a geography course somewhere along the way. For me, it happened in middle school. That’s when I learned there are many island nations. It’s not just the United Kingdom, Australia and…
Don’t wait till it rains till you start building the ark
Many in their bonus years will remember Michael Landon – the American TV actor (also screenwriter, director and producer) known for his role as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza as well as starring roles in Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. Landon, who passed away in his early 50s, once said “Whatever…
The need for transition assistance happens at all ages
Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, October 12, 2019 (The 50-seat Light House Bistro is more than a restaurant. It is also what some people call a “social enterprise” — a business enterprise that has social goals embedded in its business objectives. [Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette file]) Several months…
Looking after aging mother transforms lives of caregiving sisters
Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, October 07, 2019 I’ve just seen life from the inside out, a view that can only be conveyed by storytelling. That was my first thought as I finished reading Melanie Merriman’s Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging, winner…
A mission to repair the world does not end with retirement
Places like Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, North Carolina are names familiar to most of us – especially after their recent bashing by hurricane Florence. But if you travel about 300 miles to the west of these well-known coastal communities – to the foothills of the Blue Ridge – you will find Lenoir, a North Carolina…
Aging and the always inspirational, celebrational Kermit the Frog
Our culture seems to have an existential dread of aging – or at least dismay about looking like we are aging and certainly anxiety about admitting our age. Maybe we can blame comedian Jack Benny. The famed radio, television and film ham celebrated his 39th birthday on The Jack Benny Show, one of America’s most…
Bonus years travel comes in many sizes, shapes and destinations
Remember the late 1980s film, “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” – the comedy in which Steve Martin and John Candy struggled with each other’s foibles, challenging weather and nearly every mode of transportation to make it home for Thanksgiving? I thought of this several times during the past two weeks as Mary Sue and I joined…
Aging gives us new eyes to see people, issues and events
Our first Bonus Years column appeared on June 3, 2012. That was six years and 200 columns ago. Our aim was to write a column a week. That should add to 312. What happened to the other 112? Answer: We do our storytelling as a labor of love, so it competes with other affections –…
Finishing well is listening, watching, engaging, teaching
During the past year, Mary Sue and I have attended more funerals than ever. It is all partof growing older. As we move through our bonus years, the fate that awaits each of uscomes to some of us, though most of us fight to delay that fate as long as possible.Poet Dylan Thomas said it…