Autumn is a time to share in the lessons of letting go

Heart-warming are the changing seasons of life. When I was a youngster, life was about winter, spring, summer and fall – and each season had its highlights, beginning with Santa Claus in the winter. As I grew older, I came to see winter, spring, summer and fall more properly – i.e., as the seasons of…

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Engaging the next generation requires learning their language

Many of a certain age will remember the film, Grumpy Old Men.  That was back in 1993 when two curmudgeonly neighbors, a cantankerous John Gustafson (Jack Lemmon) and a belligerent Max Goldman (Walter Matthau), were constantly at each other’s throat.  Despite the constant nagging and bickering, Grumpy was a box office hit.  Maybe it was…

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Post-pandemic cultural change likely, but how much?

For nearly two months, we’ve been called to “shelter in place” as part of a public health strategy to beat the coronavirus.  Like most others our family has complied.   At first, I was proud of our compliance, but as time passed, I’ve realized it was a forced change in lifestyle because we didn’t have a…

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Dr. Seuss is a great asset to grandparents teaching the young

by Phil Burgess, Unabridged from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, October 13, 2019 Most writing about aging holds that one of the great blessings of the bonus years is grandparenting.  Now that we have two granddaughters, with the older turning four and the younger turning two, we share those views. Fortunately, our…

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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…

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