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Do You Have a Purpose in Life?
GO AND DO LIKEWISE My daughter Facetimed me yesterday about a problem in her Washington, DC apartment. The ants had returned. She hates any kind of insect or bug, so this is a big deal. The line of little marching invaders made its way to the cat food area. She then sprayed (pet-safe) insecticide on…
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Trying To Outlive Our Felines
We all lose cats, but that shouldn’t stop us from loving more of them We are going to lose our wonderful little tuxedo twins soon. Sad? Not too much. They’re not dying — they’re just going to move away with our adult son. It’s a personal dilemma. I’ve fallen in love with Bella, and Mal…
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Think I missed my 70s
Can ten years pass that quickly? Maybe I need to wake up. When I turned seventy, Obama had just become the President of the United States. I was about to launch my ‘career’ as a school bus driver in our college town transporting nice kids to good schools. When our family wanted big box stores…
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I have lived 80 years but have I learned anything?
Actually, I have found no sane way to avoid aging, so I am going to refine my eldership before I run completely out of time Once during a Q & A session at a political forum, a woman prefaced her question by saying “Astonishingly, I turned 80 last week.” I now know exactly what she…
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If You Had To Stay In Isolation Forever, Could You Do It?
WHAT IF YOU HAD TO BE BY YOURSELF ON AND ON AND ON… I used to say when I get old, I want to be a hermit in a cave. Now I am old and unless you call a modern two-bedroom apartment a cave, it didn’t come about. Plus, I am not actually a hermit…
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Don’t Get In That Car Unless You Know Who Is Picking You Up
How to rideshare from here to there safely I was ‘stranded’ last week after our church’s semi-monthly men’s breakfast. More accurately, I needed to get home without asking one of our guys for a ride. It is a strange quirk, but I also thought it would be entirely out of their way. So I requested a…
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Pope Francis Wisdom
A Story You Won’t Want To Miss A religious icon visits Canada to teach important lessons I want to tell you a heartening story for us who are up there in age and often use assistive devices. It is also a call to people of all ages. Please pay attention. As a progressive United Church of…
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At Our Age, An Important Warning
Falling is a serious matter for us elders. The other day we met a woman in the elevator and we compared canes. I have a new one constructed to support my forearm and recommended it to her. She had a regular one but declared she never goes anywhere without it. I commented that my main…
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The Saga of the Malfunctioning Refrigerator
First world problem: Even when you have a sub-zero balcony, food is not that accessible Right around Christmas time, with various food and meal preparations happening, our fridge started leaking water from the freezer into the drawers and bottom of the main storage area. At first, my attitude was “Who cares?” My grocery-buyer spouse disagreed.…
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Downsizing is a Young Person’s Game
Unless you have a youthful spouse and a couple of willing teens, don’t do it “Where in the world did we get all this stuff and why?” We’ve asked ourselves this question many times since moving became necessary, four times. If you have ever downsized, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t, beware.…
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Thinking about death every day
A new smart app helps with that but do we need to do it Photo by Hannah Wernecke on Unsplash When I see announcements about people who have died in their eighties, it makes me a bit nervous since I am 82. But why do I even worry about it? Like the guy who told the doctor, “My…
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