Other Side of 50

Years ago, I remember getting permission to go into my mother’s purse to get a piece of gum or hard candy.  Inside was a veritable treasure trove of items for a young girl to examine. Lipstick, a compact, eyeliner, a hairbrush, a calendar, a pen, an address book, an embroidered [...]

If you are not traveling to see family or have relatives staying with you over this holiday, you may have some downtime on your hands. When many of us are juggling schedules and working on a never-ending list of to-do's, an organized space can seem like something nice to [...]

Many older adults are relieved that most people no longer feel the need to wear face masks. The reason is one you may not suspect; Unmasking gives us the ability to lipread. Lipreading is defined as the art of being able to see speech sounds. It is often called [...]

Ageist thinking has been a staple of American culture for hundreds of years. How many times have we heard these sentiments being touted as facts? Being old is a bad thing; older adults aren’t fit for work; older adults need protecting; older people are slow and stuck in the past; [...]

Many years ago, when my husband Peter and I lived in New Jersey, he took the train to Manhattan for work. It was far from a glamorous experience. Cutting it close each day, (because he wanted to squeeze out every minute of sleep in the mornings) he jockeyed for [...]

My husband and I became recent victims of check fraud. Our story begins a month ago when I wrote a check out to a company who will be doing some work for us later this year. The contract required a 10% deposit at the time of booking. I mailed [...]

Recently, a female friend asked me if there is a book she can read to learn about the things she should be doing to plan now that she is getting older. She mentioned that she has other single female friends of varying ages, who are also wondering the same thing.  [...]

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to visit my sister in Del Mar. Though I love my sister and we are very close. I knew we hadn’t been to see them in quite a while, but I was shocked to learn our last visit had been [...]

Early in my career working with older adults, it was my strong belief that if a person needed help, and we were able to offer it, it should be provided. However, several times our efforts were not met with acceptance. There was the senior who refused home delivered meals [...]

If you are anything like me, your mailbox and email in box are filled with statements every month. They arrive for credit cards, banks, investments, utilities, service providers, and more. If you want to stay on top of them, it is easily a multi-hour a week job to review [...]

I recently attended a celebration of life for an acquaintance. She was a lovely woman who lived a full life filled with family, close friends, travel, and lots of fun and adventure.  She was also a very giving person. Her wish was for her friends to come and select [...]

My husband Peter has been working from home for quite some time now. Mid-pandemic he joined a new firm in a remote job. His company is headquartered in New York City. Unlike me, he’s the kind of guy that can go all day crunching numbers and talking to workmates [...]

My friend, a fellow solo-ager (older adult without children), recently asked me some provocative questions. They were, I think, a sign of the times that people are broadening their thinking around what’s important. She began by sharing a recent article in the New York Times about individuals who bequeathed assets [...]

Here’s a question for you, what do I have in common with Madonna, Ellen DeGeneres, and Jamie Lee Curtis? How about Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, and Drew Carey? If you guessed that we are all turning 65 this year, you would be right.  All of us, along with another 3.65 [...]

If you are feeling very good or very bad these days, it may be due to the recent rains. Take it from two musical camps. In his hit “Laughter in the Rain,” Neil Sedaka croons “Ooh, how I love the rainy days, and the happy way I feel inside,” while The [...]

My mother’s recent visit from New Hampshire was one of the highlights of my year thus far, but I can’t help but feel some guilt as I look back upon her stay. Before she came, I was committed to finding the perfect balance between making her visit enjoyable and [...]

Restaurant dining has always been a joyful experience for me. In terms of aesthetics – at lunch, I enjoy the respite from my workday and at dinner, conversations with my husband or friends. Regarding the food, in both cases I like trying new dishes as well as appreciating old [...]

In the past five years I have had four primary care physicians. No, I am not a difficult patient, I am the product of changing dynamics in the practice of primary care. Five years ago, I had a primary care physician I really liked. She listened to me and [...]

Many years ago, my father-in-law Danny, who was in his late 70s, was hanging new kitchen cabinets. Part of the job meant moving some of the ceiling tiles. When he moved the tile directly above the kitchen sink, he happened upon a paper bag holding $8,000 in cash.  His wife, [...]

I will be attending two celebrations of life this month. The first is for my friend Margaret. I wrote about her in one of my recent columns, about her surprise 90th birthday party with 50 of her friends and neighbors. Margaret died in December, a week before she was scheduled to [...]