Observing the wide age range of our Democratic candidates during the debates recently, I wondered, just how do you define “old” these days? Studies show that the younger we are, the more likely to perceive old in terms relative to our own age. To a 20-year-old, a 50-year-old seems ancient, but to an 80-year-old, 50 is the prime of life! I remember once, my mother was recounting to her own mother, my Grandma Zita, the multiple health problems her mother-in-law Nora was expe

What do you do when you realize your dream will never come true? When my husband and I were young, we dreamed of traveling the world. But there was one big problem preventing that from happening. We had no money. When we got married, we had just begun our careers and had some college debt to pay back and needed to buy a car and a few other amenities that freshly married couples need, so we were happy to honeymoon in New Orleans and take a few overnight road trips here and

At 70 years of age, on the cusp of the Baby Boom generation, I’m reminded daily, as my pal Keith says, there’s more sand in the bottom of the hourglass than the top. Can’t pass a day on Facebook without coming across a self-deprecating cartoon, featuring a generic old coot saying something like, “Yippee! I’m retired! I can do anything I want, anytime I want. Now what was it I wanted to do?” And indeed, when socializing with my age mates, the conversation frequently revolve

As my grandsons’ squabble increased in intensity, my husband and I looked at each other, sighed, and telepathically communicated the same message: “I’m too old for this.” We are among the millions of American grandparents raising grandchildren, whose numbers, according to statistics, are increasing dramatically every year. How did this societal change evolve? For us and probably 90% of other grandparents raising grandchildren, it came about because our child simply gave up