Tag: aging
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Forgetting the Good, the Bad, and the Ordinary
As we get older and more stuff clogs our mind, new information and experiences shove older material into the far reaches of our brain. We forget math equations learned in high school, the authors of once-favorite books, the names of fictional characters and perhaps the storyline. We remember lyrics of a song, but not the…
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A Day of Decadence
As I age I am in a quandary about how or if to celebrate my birthday. The answer varies for each individual, and depending on one’s mood, th answer may change from one year to the next until, by the time a person reaches triple digits, celebrating in some way is mandatory! A sudden realization,…
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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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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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Up Close and Personal With My Nose
“You have hair in your nose, Grandma.” Thank you now-disinherited seven-year-old granddaughter. There are parts of the body that, although always with us, we pay little attention. For instance my ears, imbedded on either side of my head, are forever with me. Sometimes I stick a pair of earrings in them. Most of the time…
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Goodbye Mom
My Mom passed away this week at the age of 100. Here are some memories I shared at her funeral. Rose Mandel and Sam Shilowitz welcomed baby girl Elyss Shirley on January 2, 1925. Her father Sam bought a two-story building on Main Street in Cedarhurst, Long Island, and opened a general store. The family…
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Dr Seuss On Aging
Dr. Seuss – Theodore Seuss Geisel – was born March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is a couple of weeks past his birth date, but it is still the same month! Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite writers, a genius with the gift of words. He created literary masterpieces; not the traditional novel,…
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Celebrating 100 Years of a Life’s Highs and Current Low
Mom celebrated her 100th birthday the first weekend of the New Year. Born January 2, 1925, she experienced the Depression, a world war, peace at home, and political turmoil twice; during the 1960s and 70s, and the ongoing saga of the latest decade. Her life embraced a happy only-child upbringing, college during the war years followed…
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The Joy of Doing Almost Nothing
It is probably decadent to admit, but I can spend an entire day doing almost nothing. My seventy-something body occasionally sends me an unmistakable message: Enough! Stop! I need rest! I need to recharge! What follows is time spent doing almost nothing. It might be a short time, a couple of hours or longer –…