Latest Columns

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Whatever your age, it’s never too late to make a new ending

'It's never too late to be what you might have been." That's the answer I give to people who are trying to figure out what they are going to be - or do - in the 20-30 bonus years they are likely to experience before...
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Story-tellers and the tales they weave only get better with age

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland Back in 1994, while standing in line to pay for Christmas decorations at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, a book called Christmas in My Heart: A Treasury of Old-Fashioned Christmas Stories caught my...
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From cotton fields to the top of federal law enforcement

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland My first introduction to classical music was Rossini's "William Tell Overture."  It wasn't because Rossini was a favorite on our living room "Victrola," or because my parents had tickets to the Lafayette...
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Grandparenting is a special blessing of the bonus years

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland There's a new twig on the family tree.  Her name is Adelyn – rhymes with Madelyn. I now understand why so many say the greatest joy of the bonus years is grandparenting....
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Even an unexpected journey cannot detour a purpose-driven life

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland Long-time friend, Andy Borland, the esteemed former athletic director of Severna Park High School, called one day, "You must talk to Brenda Schoener!  She's an amazing woman who has...
pexels-photo-241821

Even an unexpected journey cannot detour a purpose-driven life

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland Long-time friend, Andy Borland, the esteemed former athletic director of Severna Park High School, called one day, "You must talk to Brenda Schoener!  She's an amazing woman who has...