The Other Side of 50

Earlier this month 300 residents of a Newbury Park 55-plus mobile home park were left without running water for nearly a week. The stoppage, caused by a main break within the community’s private water system, didn’t get fixed until city and county officials intervened. The ordeal got me thinking about [...]

What will 2020 look like for you? That answer is likely to be different for everyone, but there are a few things most older adults will have in common. For example, if Social Security is your primary source of income, you may want to think about tightening your belt a [...]

My friend, let’s call him Alfred, who is in his 70s, has been trying to devise a system to alert his close contacts if something were to happen to him while he’s at home. He’s sensitive to the topic because his former girlfriend died in her home and it took [...]

I recently attended a presentation by a partnership specialist for the Los Angeles Regional Census Center. She met with a group of nonprofits to explain details of the upcoming 2020 Census and to express the importance of each household completing the census. According to AARP, older Americans have been more [...]

Recognizing that California’s over-65 population is projected to grow to 8.6 million by 2030, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order recently calling for a Master Plan for Aging to be developed by Oct. 1, 2020. The master plan will serve as a blueprint for state government, local communities, private [...]

Psychologist Abraham Maslow developed his famous “hierarchy of needs” theory in 1942. At the time, he saw food, water, sleep and shelter as the most basic of all human needs. I would contend electricity has now become a basic human need. Without electricity, it would be extremely difficult to lead [...]

Recently, my coworkers and I have begun to see a spike in the number of seniors in our community who go days on end without human contact. Yet when asked if they’re lonely, they say no. These individuals are quite content with their daily schedule. In many cases, they’re proud [...]

I’ve never been a sports-oriented person. I’m not sure if it’s the required physical exertion or the competitive aspect that doesn’t excite me, but I’d much rather spend my days pursuing a host of other activities. So when my husband announced he wanted us to join a club and play [...]

On weekends, my husband and I walk our dog, Rolo, together. Rolo is blind and deaf, but is a joyful 10-year-old pup in otherwise good health. Me, on the other hand, while I am in good health, I’ve been having some trouble hearing. On our dog walks, we traverse a [...]

My neighbor John has been collecting gold coins for the past 20 years. Upon buying a coin, he would place it in the safe deposit box he and his wife, Caitlin, rented at their bank. John put the gold there for an obvious reason: security. A thick steel door safeguards [...]

A few weeks ago, as he was walking his dog around his neighborhood, my friend Jerry experienced pain and pressure in his chest. He’d forgotten his cellphone, so he continued up the hill to his house, stopping four times to catch his breath before arriving home. Once he was inside [...]

I recently visited New Hampshire to join my mother in celebrating her 85th birthday. While planning the visit, I asked my mother if she would like to go on a short trip with me—maybe a visit to Cape Cod or to Maine? My mother has temporarily lost her “partner in [...]

When most people hear the words “planned giving,” their eyes glaze over. In the over-50 population, there’s a general lack of awareness and understanding about the concept. This is too bad, because with the collective wealth of baby boomers, their planned gifts can have significant social impact. Planned giving is [...]

I’ve trained my mom to be a case manager for seniors. Well, not really, but linking our daily conversations along with her 85 years of life experience, my mom can give some pretty good advice when asked. Mom has known her close friend Bernadette since high school. They both married [...]

Today’s baby boomers range from 55 to 73 years old. Studies show that “gray divorce”—marital splits among senior and nearly senior citizens— is increasingly common. According to a Pew Research Center report, the divorce rate for people in the United States age 50 and older is now about double what [...]

Many years ago I took courses at the Center for Creative Leadership, a world-renowned leadership-development firm. I worked for Dole at the time, and I guess they had high hopes for my changing the world, or at least improving my portion of the organization. One of the courses I took [...]

I just received my fifth email this month on the same topic. In the email, my friend informed me he’s canceled his landline service and has chosen to use only his cellphone for voice communication because of the abundance of robocalls and scams he was receiving. Unfortunately, this will not [...]

I volunteered to work at the recent Thousand Oaks Chili Cook-Off for a friend who was going out of town and didn’t want to leave the Rotary Club that puts on the event short-handed. It was to be an all-day assignment, so I asked my husband if he’d like to [...]

If you live an hour or more away from a loved one who needs your care, you’re a long-distance caregiver.   Based upon the needs of the care receiver, as well as the skills, abilities and limitations of the caregiver, every long-distance caregiving experience is different. I’ve been a long-distance [...]

I have a dear friend, Nancy, whose husband died unexpectedly several years ago. She was recounting the situation to me and how another friend of hers, a physician, wanted to give her some medication to calm her during the experience. Nancy’s response: “I have too much to do. I can’t [...]