Birthdays & Beginnings
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Birthdays & Beginnings

Observing the slow shift from winter into spring is therapeutic. I enjoyed time outside recently with my mother–in-law. We made a point to just sit in the sun for a while. With delight, she pointed to the crocuses popping their heads out of the soil in the gardens around her long-term care home. May marks…

Better or wiser?
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Better or wiser?

It isn’t a surprise that Baby Boomers, my generation, are redefining aging. We have the numbers, influence and ethos to challenge the status quo and make change. Many of the changes will make conditions better for seniors; but better in this context, may not mean wiser. Some advocacy for the aging leaves me with nagging…

Coming of age
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Coming of age

Time is relative, the adage goes.  My husband Ralph is a school principal. He recently celebrated a significant birthday, and the younger students invariably wanted to guess his age. “Twelve?” one student guessed. Another, more confident student proclaimed, “Fifty-twelve!” A third, “Ninety-three.” To twist another adage: Age is in the eye of the beholder. Louise Aronson,…

Picture Perfect
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Picture Perfect

Last summer, we went beach hunting with the grandparents on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We were looking for a specific spot where we’d taken a photo when our eldest was almost four. For years the photograph has hung on our wall, a reminder of one beautiful corner of the world we love and…

As time goes by
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As time goes by

What’s the best part of ageing? For me it’s the memories. Even better than seniors’ discounts, I have a storehouse of treasured memories to draw from. They often come to mind when I least expect them, and just as I need them most. It happened again the other night as I lay shivering under the…

Does life really get better with age?

Does life really get better with age?

I recently turned 30 and felt good about it. But when pushed to answer “why,” I realized that my reasoning had a lot to do with the career and personal milestones I’d managed to check off in the past decade . . . even though I knew it shouldn’t. Franciscan priest Richard Rohr would say…

Growing Old Gracefully
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Growing Old Gracefully

At the risk of being charged with blasphemy, let me say that for more than 50 years I was bored silly watching major league baseball on television. What did my dad see in a Milwaukee Brewer pawing the ground in the batters’ box, or the pitcher wiping his forehead, palming a baseball and occasionally scratching…

Better with Age?

Better with Age?

Here we go again! Last month we columnists were told that the Christmas issue was themed “In Praise of Broken Things”; a crazy topic until I thought about it some more. This month it’s “Better with Age.” Better with age? Tell that to my creaky 76-year-old knees, or my wife’s 23-year-old Honda Civic. New and…

A blessing under the bitter notes

A blessing under the bitter notes

I’ve always loved the final scene in the 2012 Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises. Gotham City is saved, and the camera takes us to a small café in Florence, on the banks of the Arno. Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred is on a much-needed holiday, sipping a glass of Fernet Branca, when, surprisingly, he meets…