mental-health
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HOW YOU LOOK IS NOT HOW YOU ARE SEEN
Last week, I was feeling particularly lovely and vibrant, so I took some selfies in the garden to share with my kids. However, when I put on my glasses to look at them, I was stunned. Surely that weathered face and wrinkles didn’t belong to me? I started to delete them, then stopped myself. Since… Read more
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YOU OLD PEOPLE!
A couple times a week, I go to the gym to lift some light weights. (Apparently, bearing my own weight is not enough.) I do 3 sets, 8 reps each, on 5 machines. Each set takes about 30 seconds which means 15 minutes total, because I don’t dally. I’m alone in this endeavor, however. The vast majority here… Read more
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PJs AND BIRTHDAYS
When the first freeze of winter hit, I pulled out my flannel PJs and found only one mismatched pair, which had a long-gone, elastic waistband. They were given to me almost 20 years ago. I did the math and realized that my next pair may well outlive me. So, I purchased these, so I’ll look… Read more
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by
in
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YOU GO FIRST
Remember in school when the teacher asked a question and you shrank down in your seat hoping he’d call on someone else? No one wanted to go first. Years later, at my very first dance, I quickly realized that waiting for someone to ask me could take forever. Life was too short to just stand… Read more
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stupid is smarts gone AWOL
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein Sometimes I do something so dumb that even I am floored. Such was the case last night, when I decided to untangle string lights that a windstorm blew over the backyard wall. Despite my poor vision… Read more
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magical thinking
I have a friend who cleans his sunglasses with paper money. He swears, “It keeps them cleaner longer.” However, the science says that’s not true. Paper, which is made from wood pulp, scratches lenses. So why is he convinced otherwise? Beats me. What matters is what he thinks—not what is. Neither truth nor science affect our decision making.… Read more
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THE UPSIDES OF GOING DOWNHILL
I’m gonna smack the next person who tells me, “You’re only as old as you feel.” That is the single, stupidest thing I’ve heard in the last 20 years. If you knew how I really felt, you’d wonder how the hell I was still above ground!! AND…on the days when I DO feel young, folks… Read more
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NOW YOU SEE IT
I still remember every, single one of those metal staples being pulled out of me by pliers. That was just the surface pain. Underneath was a gut-wrenching trauma. As my surgeon breezily explained, “It’s brutal. I make a 10-inch incision across your knee and remove your knee cap. Then I saw your leg in half,… Read more
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SQUABBLE OR SCRABBLE?
Lately, my couples have been going after each other like these quail; their beaks moving fast and furiously to get the last seed— or word— in. Sometimes, I remove myself from the jabber and just listen. Two sentiments between multiple partners have repeated themselves over and over. They bear noting: 1. “You should know… how… Read more
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DEPENDENT ON INDEPENCE
There is a line in the Declaration of Independence that has long intrigued me: “all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” It intrigues me because of the truth of it. We do suffer, and… Read more
AGEFULLY AGING 