Bonus Years and Work
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…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreBonus 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…
Read MoreRenaissance woman finds new calling in her bonus years
The American author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, told us that “Vitality exists not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.” For a living example of “Fitzgerald’s Law,” journey down to Annapolis Maritime Antiques on Severn Ave. in Eastport. There, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoon beginning at 2:00, you…
Read MoreRetirement, for some, is an opportunity to keep on serving
(Dick Libby, of Annapolis, officiated at the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan at Washington National Cathedral in 2010, 50 years after he had been ordained there as an Episcopal priest. [Capital Gazette]) Poet Robert Browning talked to us about “…the last of life for which the first was made.” For some, the link between the first…
Read MoreOnly a genealogist thinks a step backward is progress
The Maryland State Archives, located on Rowe Blvd. just west of College Creek, is the central repository for what the law calls “state government records of permanent value….” including birth and death, marriage and divorce records, last wills and testaments and records of the history of Maryland – from the earliest times of Lord Baltimore…
Read MoreRetirement can be an experience with many chapters
(Photo Credit: In 2017, Craig Sewell, longtime chef and owner of A Cook’s Cafe in Annapolis, announced his retirement after 15 years. [Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette file]) Annapolitan Craig Sewell is, to my way of thinking, a poster boy for the way many of us will spend our bonus years: in serial retirements that…
Read MoreGood literature tells truest truths about death and dying
Last December, just before Christmas, I read a retirement story in the Capital about Michael Parker, a US Naval Academy English professor, due to step aside after 38 years on the Yard. A notice that someone is about to retire always catches my attention. However, buried in the Parker story was an added attraction: It…
Read MoreTo live is to engage in the action and passion of your time
Someone once said that “Stories are only stories at the end. In the middle, it’s just chaos.” I thought of that last week as I was talking to Marvin Smith, who has a way to go before he’s at the end of his story. Though Smith is now 61, he still looks every bit the…
Read MoreSenior leadership, know-how can be a big asset for non-profits
(Image: Peter Cooper, left, and Dale Moeller, members of the 2015 class of the Watershed Stewards Academy, completed this rain garden to handle runoff from the parking lot of their church, Woods Memorial Presbyterian in Severna Park. [Pat Furguson / Baltimore Sun Media Group]) It was 7:30 on a Thursday morning a few weeks ago…
Read MoreAnnapolis woodworkers prove hobbies for the young are satisfying at every age
(Image: Members of the Annapolis Woodworkers’ Guild in their workshop in 2015, from left, Barry Frankel of Crofton, Jim Jordan of Cape St. Claire, Bill Carbin, Andy Borland, both of Severna Park, Paul Dodson of Glen Burnie, Will Hottle of Edgewater. [Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun file]) Personal agency. It’s not a common phrase,…
Read MoreAnnapolitans turn a lifelong calling into a later-life mission
(Image: Annapolis residents Jim and Karen Wilder, pictured in 2014, aim to launch a new enterprise that reflects not only their culinary calling but also their commitment to creating opportunities for people with disabilities, translating a lifelong calling into a bonus years mission. [Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette file]) Last week, while attending the annual…
Read MoreLife is a series of transitions and retirement is just another
(Photo: “I can’t see myself retiring. I love the work I do. I’ve worked my whole life and throughout my life I’ve always invested in my education so I can do more,” Jonathon Church said. [Courtesy photo from the Capital Gazette]) “I’m a retired police officer,” he said as the men around the table introduced…
Read MoreVietnam-era immigrant continues to serve at Anne Arundel Community College
(Image: Dung Dinh Do is a police officer at Anne Anne Arundel Community College. He graduated from the police academy at age 64, the oldest person to ever go through the academy. [Paul W. Gillespie / Capital Gazette]) It shouldn’t be surprising that immigration is all over the news. After all, global migration is one…
Read MoreHelping the young to a legacy of trains, planes and automobiles
(Image: Ted Levitt, who ran Chick and Ruth’s Delly in Annapolis after his parents died, talks about retiring and selling the business to new owner Keith Jones late last year. (Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette)) Way back in 1993, Mary Sue and I decided to move to Annapolis from Denver. It was a move shaped…
Read MoreCivic innovations target needs of growing senior population
Though it’s a national sport to complain about our culture, much of what we “know” is fed to us by national media that are fixated on what is nasty, brutish, scandalous or weird – all of which is amplified in the 24×7 national “news” cycle. But if we stand back and look at things, especially…
Read MoreYou are never too old to dream or resolve to improve your life
As we celebrate New Year’s Eve, we should remember that “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book” and our calling to “Write a good one.” Those are the words of modern American philosopher Brad Paisley — also a Grammy-award-winning country music singer-songwriter, the vocation of some of our most insightful contemporary philosophers.…
Read MoreYour own backyard is a good place to begin repairing the world
Having just returned from my second visit to Israel, I came home to a stack of books and articles I had accumulated over the past two months in preparation for the trip. The stack included a lot of history — such as Bernard Lewis’ “The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years”…
Read MoreMaking Later-Life Work
American culture continues to glamorize the retirement, “Golden Years” as a time for endless leisure and amusement. I have a different view of later-life for our nation’s Baby Boomers. That’s why I’ve written Reboot!, to make the case for returning to work, in some capacity, after you “retire” – whether your retirement age is 50 or…
Read MoreOld soldiers never die; they just go back to work
Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland. Ron Edwards may not have nine lives, but he sure challenges the observation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who said before Congress in 1951 that “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” Instead of fading away after spending more than 20 years…
Read MoreIn business and life, you learn the ropes by untying the knots
Let’s talk about relevance and entrepreneurship. First, relevance. When you reach your bonus years, you are at the top of your game — with lots of wisdom and many skills. But there’s often a problem. In the words of Laurence J. Peter, author of “The Peter Principle,” “Old age is when you know all the…
Read MoreRetiring from a job does not mean you retire your calling
Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland “A servant’s heart.” That’s a term I’ve heard many times over the years, referring to people whose joy in life comes from serving others. Those with servant hearts are everywhere, but because they are driven by a desire to serve rather than…
Read MoreCreating age-friendly workplaces to retain later-life workers
Many of our stories focus on later-life Annapolitans who are continuing work into their bonus years – whether it’s paid, volunteer, Samaritan or enrichment kinds of work. We do this for two reasons. First, research shows that continued social engagement is the most important predictor of successful aging, and work is sure-fire channel for social…
Read More‘Work is a blessing:’ The gift of satisfying work in later life
Physician Alexis Carrel, recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Medicine for pioneering work on vascular suturing, organ transplants and the aging of cells, famously said, “The aging man should neither stop working nor retire. Leisure is even more dangerous for the old than for the young.” That also applies to women, according to Mary…
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