Other Side of 50

For weeks, friends and neighbors worked on planning a surprise block party for my friend Margaret’s 90th birthday. On the big day, over 50 people showed up with food, drink and gifts to celebrate this amazing lady. Several of the neighbors who attended the party had read my Acorn column about my fall. Soon I [...]

Due to this year’s meteoric rise in the consumer price index, a measure of inflation in the cost of goods and services, Social Security beneficiaries will receive an 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment for 2023. Only three times in the past 46 years has the COLA been higher - in 1979 to 1981 with an increase of [...]

Morning walks in my neighborhood are one of the most enjoyable parts of my day. I love the coolness of daybreak and the special sightings of the stag and two does that frequent our open space. I also enjoy my walk because each day at that time I call my mother to catch up [...]

How old is too old for working at a job? Last week a news story hit my inbox and it really got me to thinking about age and retirement. The article noted that Target Corp. abandoned its mandatory retirement age of 65 for its CEO, Brian Cornell. Cornell is 63. There were two things [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot about retirement lately. One of our amazing staff members, who has been with Senior Concerns for the last 13 years, retired last month. It just doesn’t seem real. I always thought of Dana as young. Certainly not the person to retire before me. Dana has wonderful reasons for retiring. A [...]

If you need to be reminded of the beauty of humanity, you only need to look at acts of compassion. Recently I was eating lunch at a restaurant that plays sports on its TVs. I normally pay little attention to television as I like to read a book during lunch. However, on this particular day, [...]

I have a 79-year-old friend who I have lunch with about once a month. We met many years ago by happenstance, as she had a weekly appointment that ended when mine began. We started to chat in the waiting room and over time became friends. She is a smart woman who spent many years in [...]

One thing the past few years has taught us is the value of breaking bread with family and friends. Holiday meals, casual barbecues, Sunday suppers and milestone dinner celebrations were sorely missed during the height of the pandemic. My friend Nancy and I were talking recently about one of her family traditions, and it struck [...]

“Go with your gut” is a piece of advice given to me many years ago, somewhere in the middle of my business career. What my boss was trying to convey to me was to trust or follow my intuition, or instinct, as opposed to only basing my opinion or decision on a thorough analysis of [...]

This month my 3-year-old grandnephew, Wyatt, took his first airplane ride. What’s more, he was chosen to visit with the pilot and co-pilot, and he even got to sit in the cockpit in the pilot’s seat. My sister sent my mom and me the pictures of the occasion. In addition to remarking how stinking cute [...]