Category: boomer life
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Pomp and Pageantry Past 60
A friend passed recently. One memorable story about her recalls participation in the following event. I had never viewed a live beauty contest until a friend participated in the Ms New Jersey Senior America Pageant. I watched numerous Miss America broadcasts over the years, but could not relate. I am not now, and never was,…
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A Baby Boomer’s Musings on Her Life
Many baby boomers who grew up during the 1960s have exciting stories to tell about their sex life, their drug escapades, their Woodstock experience, their protest days. Not me. I can tell you what I did not do: I did not experiment with drugs. Drugs do not like my body. In my early 20s I…
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Hanging Out With Old Friends
It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson One evening four couples reunited at a restaurant to revel in friendships, relish a temporary respite from grandkids, and celebrate birthdays. Because of busy calendars and homes geographically dispersed, time between get-togethers sometimes…
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Plane Travel and What Not to Wear
Nowadays a plane traveler never knows when hours might be spent hunched over an uncomfortable metal airline terminal seat waiting for a plane to load and take off. Or they might nestle comfortably in a tight plane seat, only to stare out the window at the runway for what seems an interminable amount of time…
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I am a high-rise newbie
I drive up to the building’s entrance, grab my pocketbook and purchases from the back seat, and enter the apartment house I now call home. A parking attendant takes my place in the driver’s seat and steers my car into the garage. If there are too many bags to carry the doorman piles my things…
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Good Intentions Trigger Turmoil
Life is supposed to get simpler as one ages. In that spirit my husband and I decided to simplify our lives. We would sell our house and move into an apartment. We have bought and sold properties in the past, first as newlyweds, then sharing the experience with toddlers, then school-age kids, as a couple…
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Farewell to Amusement Parks
Confession: I love my kids and grandkids but cannot keep up with them. Cold winter days have become a pleasurable season as I hunker under my quilt and don’t feel any guilt, steeped in a good book or TV series. Summer is jam-packed with physical activities synonymous with heat, ice cream, water, playdays, vacay days, outdoorsy…
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Delightful Diversions in Troubled Times
Skip to the third paragraph (after italics) to avoid my current events rant. The world is a scary place now, but the world is scary someplace all the time. For those of us living in the United States, we have been blessed with minimal upheaval throughout our lives. But our world grows scarier day by…
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Cooking and Procrastination – A Delightful Duo
I like to cook, but am not a gourmet chef. I cook because I like to eat, enjoy food, and prefer non-chemical, unprocessed fare. I occasionally try new recipes, but as I age rely more and more on old – maybe not quite as old as me, but old enough – favorites. Too many ingredients,…
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The Word of the Week is Change
I spent a couple of days in the town where I lived for over 30 years, the place my kids grew up in, where I worked, made friends, purchased a home, volunteered, and kept up with local news. I caught up on the lives of old friends, their kids, and grandkids. We all look older,…