Category: The good news (Page 1 of 11)

Welcoming Fall Differently

09/23/2020 / Laura

Fall in 2020

Early morning cool as you wave to someone across the street

Leaves starting their journey

Soft jackets with stubborn zippers that match your mask

Football games on televisions with masked cheerleaders

Squirrels getting busier

Chili peppers teasing your nose

Pumpkin carving at a safe distance

New pencils and sharp crayons on the kitchen table

Meeting new characters on television (including teachers)

Early blanket of darkness

Elk are bugling

Socks and sweatshirts and face guards and hand sanitizers

Warm cider and hot tea

A different light in the afternoon

Airing out the quilt and wanting to get underneath it until the election is over

Reading the Farmer’s Almanac

Stocking up on essentials but not buying all the TP on the shelf

Summer’s last gasp and yet it is hard to remember the last 3 months

Laughing by the fire pit at least 6 feet apart

Praying for exhausted doctors, nurses, EMTs

What is Fall for you? A time of exciting new beginnings? Or painful memories from years gone by? Does the cool air energize and inspire you, or do you wish summer’s warmth would linger? Of course you may live somewhere that offers high temperatures year-round. If so, what does the change of season mean to you?

I’ve always viewed the fall with mixed emotions. As a child, it was the whole back-to-school thing. Then it was the back-to-campus thing during college. Then you “become an adult” and school calendars no longer rule your life. Yet now in this crazy age, I truly sympathize with how a global pandemic has interfered with all the traditions of returning to school, no matter the age. For children, for young people, for teachers, for parents.

I do hope we can hold on to what is good about Fall.

I think it’s always been a time to go inward and be still. Changing leaves. Gorgeous sunsets. A slowing down and taking care.

Now as I am much older, Fall is also symbolic of how quickly things change. How life passes before we’re ready.

Losing an amazing person like Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a strong reminder. She didn’t sit around and wait for things to change. She changed them. And she didn’t stop when she grew older. What an inspiration! We owe it to her to stay active, involved, and engaged in what is going on in this world.

We owe it to her to VOTE for decency, honesty, fairness, integrity, intelligence, and empathy—things that must be brought back to the White House if we are to survive. Because the time to do so is NOW.

We don’t live forever. We can make plans and look ahead but we must not let time get away from us. We need to take the trip today, tell someone we love him or her today, have dessert first today.

We should not “postpone our joy”.

Fall is a new season. But I think inside, it’s also our cue to pull the blanket around us and warm up to our lives.

Luckily, as boomers, we have a lot of kindling.

“There is a pearl in every season. Find it. Then give all you have to claim it.”

Joan Sauro

“I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Where the path leads.

06/28/2019 / Laura

There’s an area not too many miles from where I live with a path that winds around some ballfields and a small manmade lake. The path is paved and goes through some trees so it is a nice respite from the nearby busy street and noise of modern life. The path is named for someone and, along the way, there are benches and signs with verses from the Bible.

I do not know the person for whom it was named, but apparently she was only 35 when she departed this world. Now I walk the path with my dog and sometimes wonder about her.

Did she get to do the things that mattered most to her before she departed this world so young? Did she have advance notice that her time was to be short, and if so, did she continue with her everyday routine, or did she decide to throw caution to the wind and take more risks? Did she feel her life was fully lived, or did she shake her fist at the heavens and implore why she had so little time?

What would I do if given such news…would I take a completely different path…I wonder.

When I walk a labyrinth, I’m struck by how you walk the outer edges, then just as it seems you will enter the middle you are again taken to the outside…as though to revisit and relearn something again and again. Maybe it’s that whole “wherever you go, there are you” thing. Or maybe it’s just a lesson from the universe of “not so fast…you have more ground to cover before you get the answers.”

It’s strangely calming.

Walk a mountain trail and you often find yourself concentrating hard on the way up (or down) as you begin, carefully taking steps over rocky terrain, wanting to cover ground before you begin to tire, thinking about how much time you have before you have to be back, will you have enough water, will the weather hold, etc. You notice the scenery around you, but it’s almost a backdrop to all the noise in your head that takes a while to quiet. You’re on a mission; you have a trail to complete.

But when you turn back, you feel yourself exhale, and with it, often goes much of the need to control the experience. You’re now walking more loosely, you’re noticing how the sunlight bounces off the leaves, how majestic the boulders are, how beautifully blue the sky is. It’s as though it’s a completely different trail, and yet it’s the same one that brought you there.

Because now you’re a bit older, a little wiser and more sure of yourself. Your eyes are more open. You’re reminded how you are part of the trail, and not the other way around.

The trail didn’t change. You did.

The labyrinth has always been there. You just never really took the time to walk it.

The path that is your life was always waiting, you didn’t even realize you were already on it.

You can step off of it. You can turn around. You can linger at a particularly wonderful spot. You won’t get lost, because the path will there. But like all walks in the woods, keep an eye on the time.

Because it goes so fast.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust

“The problem is that you think you have time.” Jack Kornfield

10 things boomers shouldn’t have to deal with anymore.

05/07/2019 / Laura

We made it. We’re older. More mature. More experienced. We’re 50 and better and we’ve earned the right to not have to waste our time with certain things, right?

Right!

Here’s my take on what we should not have to do anymore:

Show our ID every time we do anything. Hey, we’ve been here, don’t you know us? We lived here before this store was even built. Seriously do you really think we’re giving you a stolen credit card or bad check? Don’t these gray hairs get us anything?

Eat boiled turnips. I consider these an element of torture, invented by an angry Mayan society that lived under rocks and only came out when the smell of boiled turnips was more than they could stand.

Be embarrassed about going to bed on a weekend before 10 p.m. We know we can stay up. But why? We’re tired. We’ve lived a long and exciting life. Now we relish in the joy of extra rest. Nothing beats it. And besides, we get up earlier than you and see all kinds of things you never see cause you’re sleeping in.

Be polite when you’re acting like a jerk. Enough already. We’ve gone through our years when we plastered a smile on our face and endured rude clients, inappropriate jokes in the workplace, and off-color remarks at the game. It’s not funny. It never was. And now, we can just give “the look” and go on.

Travel with people we don’t want to travel with. Sorry, but no more. Life is short. There’s so much to see. A good night’s sleep is precious. So it’s okay if you snore, gargle too loud, complain all the time, and snap at waiters. But don’t expect us to share a room with you for even one night. We’ve learned the joy of experiencing new cultures, and we cherish our adventures. You’ll get there some day.

Prejudice, racism, intolerance, or just plain stupidity. You have the right to your opinion as well as the right to express it. But we don’t have to listen, much less agree. The longer you are on this planet, the more you will realize how we are all spirits, more alike than not, and inventing reasons to hate one another just doesn’t cut the muster. Trust us, there’s really nothing new under the sun. Read a book. (PLEASE.) Watch PBS. Turn off the crap that passes for news on certain channels and deal in facts, not bizarre opinions. We all can step back and take a moment before rushing to judgment about anyone, no matter the situation.

Humidity. Really! Don’t you think it should be a law that wherever we are, the humidity should be lower? Haven’t we sweated enough?

Be served boxed macaroni. Enough said.

Drive behind people who don’t know how to drive. Don’t start with us. We’ve been behind untold numbers of people who signal a turn and then drive 35 miles, never signal, swing out to make a left turn, and brake for no apparent reason…scores and scores more than than you have. One day, you can complain. Not yet.

Be ignored. You see us. You know we are here. So be civil. Acknowledge us. Look us in the eye. Talk to us like we’re an actual person. Show us some respect. This goes for individuals, advertisers, waiters, and anyone else we run into. We might have something you want, like a pearl of wisdom. Or a really great tip…if we get great service.

I’m sure your list is just as long, feel free to share. It’s time we boomers and beyond asserted our rights! Rock the Wrinkle!!

“Respect yourself and others will respect you.”

Confucius

Where did this stomach come from?

01/22/2019 / Laura

That dreaded dressing room mirror. (Cue the horror music.)

You exercise. You eat right (mostly). You take the stairs. You resist the urge to snatch chocolate bars from unsuspecting children. You think healthy thoughts.

Then you get over 60.

And you look down at your stomach.

Where did that come from?

You think, it’s spring and I could use some new blue jeans. Or a new suit. Or even (gasp) shorts.

Then you go into the dressing room.

With those funhouse mirrors that give you the bad news from every angle. And lighting that probably was taken from gestapo questioning cells.

You catch a glimpse of yourself.

You go to the gym for your fitness assessment.

When did this happen?

You’re feeling pretty good because after all, you’ve been working out regularly.

You’ve been behaving.

You are in for a big surprise.

How can this be my body?

It’s not just women. Men have these moments of horror as well. Maybe more about their hairline. Or maybe not. But we all know the pain.

It can feel like forces are trying to lull you into giving in. Go ahead, say the sirens on the rocks, have that second piece of cake. Open that bag of cheese crackers. What difference does it make, anyway? You deserve it….

The winds are blowing. You’re on the edge of that precipice. Even if you hang on, if you climb higher, you will have to work very hard to feel good. But the reward will be a longer, healthier life. More energy. Less worrying about everything.

But if you go ahead and jump, you’ll land in a sea of potato chips, cheese dip and pie… a hammock made of macaroni and cheese that sways back and forth over a sea of indulgence. You might be more peaceful for a few moments. But you won’t be more healthy.

So the question is: where do we draw the line? At what point do we acknowledge that age, and genetics, do play a major role in our body shape and size? What is the difference between not eating an entire bowl of popcorn versus being okay with big arms because that’s what Mama had?

Hear what AARP.org has to say…

“There are two types of fat: the subcutaneous, or “pinchable,” kind that collects just under the skin—and, unless you’re obese, poses no health threat—and visceral fat, which develops deep inside the abdomen. “Visceral fat appears to be metabolically more active than fat that settles elsewhere,” says Pamela Peeke, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland. This visceral fat—belly fat, in plain English—interferes with liver function. In particular, it hampers the processing of cholesterol and insulin—and may also compromise the function of other tissues and systems. A study conducted at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam found links between belly fat and capillary inflammation (a contributor to heart disease) and between belly fat and insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes).

“Unfortunately the flow of fat from our arms, legs, and hips to our stomachs is a natural part of aging. “Up until about age 40, estrogen in women and testosterone in men controls fat allocation, keeping it away from the abdomen,” Peeke says. “Once these hormones decline, it becomes easier for excessive calories to be stored deep inside the belly.”

So trying to control fat is pretty impossible….but….how you live can affect how much you accumulate. So here are some tips from various sources:

• Sressed? Don’t reach for the chip bag. Chances are, you’ll eat the whole thing before you even realize it. Get up, walk around, stretch. Get some air. Drink some water. Take your mind somewhere else (besides the pantry).

• Get stronger. Again from AARP.org: “Once you hit 30, your lean muscle mass decreases by about a pound a year. If you’re inactive, that lost muscle mass often is replaced by fat. So if you’re not already lifting weights two to three days a week, start now. Need proof that weight training will reduce your waistline? Two studies that analyzed the effects of strength training in older adults between ages 50 and 70 showed a 10 to 15 percent decrease in belly fat despite no weight loss.”

That’s pretty impressive. And the secret? Weight training can be fun. You really do feel more powerful afterwards!

• Eat less. Pretty obvious, right? But don’t go to extremes. Starving yourself isn’t a long-term solution. Think moderation. One helping. Enough protein. Write down what you eat. And give yourself a “day off” when you can have a special treat. If you do have a really bad of cheating, just decide you’ll do better tomorrow, and keep moving forward.

Getting enough sleep is also important. Cutting out snacks during the day and not eating after dinner are good ideas. And for sure, just moving more…whether getting up and walking, or grabbing some hand weights and sitting in the chair…anything to get your ticker moving.

But through it all, remember to be kind to yourself. You are probably doing the best you can, it’s just that age does have a sense of humor about some things. So don’t look at it like a war. Think of it as a new romance with your health. A way to add years to your life. Wrinkles, gray hair and a few extra pounds can be badges of honor, as long as they don’t hold you back.

So let’s keep moving.

Let’s do it!!

It isn’t what you do once in a while that’s a problem; it’s what you do all the time.
Jack LaLanne
“I may be a senior, but so what? I’m still hot!”
Betty White