The Strange Feeling of Growing Older in a World That No Longer Feels Familiar
There is a peculiar experience that comes with living a long life. You wake up one morning and realize that the world outside your window is still technically the same world—but somehow it feels different. The stores you remember are gone. The restaurants have changed. The people you used to call are no longer there. […]
Starting Over After 70: Why Reinvention May Be the Most Important Skill of Aging
There is a strange assumption built into the way we talk about old age. We speak as though life is supposed to become settled. The career is finished. The children are grown. The house is paid for, or nearly paid for. The routines are established. You know who you are. You know what you like. […]
The Last Third of Life Is Not a Waiting Room
There is a strange cultural idea about aging that deserves to be challenged. For most of our lives, we are expected to be moving toward something. As children, we are becoming students. As students, we are preparing for work. We build careers, raise families, buy homes, save money, make plans, and spend decades thinking about […]
Why Friendship Gets Harder After 70 — And Why It Matters More Than Ever
Nobody warns you about this part of getting older. Your world can slowly become smaller. Not because you planned it that way. It just happens. A friend moves away. Someone stops driving at night. A spouse becomes ill. A neighbor dies. The people you used to see at work disappear from your daily life. A […]
Medicare for Married Couples: Why the Numbers Change as You Age
When most people compare Medicare Advantage and Medigap, they look at the cost for one person. That is understandable. But married couples live on one household budget. And once two people are on Medicare, the numbers can change quickly. Two Medicare premiums. Two prescription needs. Two sets of doctor visits. Two possible hospital stays. Two […]
The Most Loving Thing You Can Leave Your Children Isn’t Money — It’s a Plan
When people talk about what they hope to leave their children, they usually talk about money. A house. A savings account. Investments. Jewelry. Maybe a collection of something nobody in the family actually wants but everyone is afraid to throw away. But there is another inheritance that may matter even more. A plan. Because someday, […]
The Most Loving Thing You Can Do for Your Children Is Prepare for Your Own Death
Nobody enjoys talking about death. We would rather discuss almost anything else. The weather. The grandchildren. The price of groceries. Why the television remote now requires a degree in electrical engineering. But there is one conversation many older adults continue to avoid, and avoiding it can leave the people we love with an enormous mess […]
The Older You Get, the More Important It Is to Stay Adaptable
There is an old idea about aging that goes something like this: You get older, you settle into your ways, and eventually you stop changing. That may sound harmless. It is not. One of the biggest risks of growing older is not simply losing strength, speed, or energy. It is losing flexibility in the way […]
The Danger of Living on Autopilot After 70
There is something that can quietly happen as we get older. Our lives become efficient. We know where we shop. We know what we eat. We know what television programs we like. We know which chair is ours, what time we go to bed, and which route we take to the supermarket. Nothing is particularly […]
You Are Not Too Old to Change Your Mind, Your Life, or Your Direction
One of the strangest things about growing older is how easily the world begins to expect you to become finished. Finished changing. Finished learning. Finished experimenting. Finished starting over. By the time you reach your seventies or eighties, people may quietly assume your life has already taken its final shape. You have your routines. Your […]