Martha McClellan
Position: Authentic Aging

Reading into winter: Books to contemplate aging, death

November is a good time to think about books. The long, dark nights are coming, and there’s just more time to read, reflect and be. So many great books have come my way lately, a...

We may want to consider writing our obituaries now

When my brother died in June, my remaining brother and I were extremely disappointed in the obituary that was published in his local hometown newspaper. It was full of inaccuraci...

How do people deal with serious illness later in life?

We all seem to know someone who is going through a serious illness. The older we get, it’s becoming more and more common to hear of great struggles with difficult disorders. I’m ...

Who have been the influential women in your life?

Seeing the movie “RBG” (Ruth Bader Ginsberg) recently got me thinking: Here is this woman who has done so much for women’s rights during my lifetime. She won five gender discrimi...

Lost opportunities with dying friends and family

Three people in my life have died in the past month. All of the deaths were sudden, unexpected and a total surprise to me. I don’t feel “finished” with any of these people. I wou...

We’ve lived at the perfect time in history

Those of us in our 60s and 70s have lived our lives at the best and most exciting time in history. We were born into the 1940s and 1950s, and our lives will most likely end during the 2030s ...

We get so much more than what we need

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I really need and what I just want. My yoga teacher said something about it recently, and it’s stuck with me. As I go through my day, I...

Spring cleaning or death cleaning?

It’s not spring cleaning anymore. Now it’s death cleaning. A new book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, ...

Looking at our responsibilities as we age

Shouldn’t our responsibilities lessen as we age? I’m thinking we did our careers, we did our families, now we can relax. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the reality many of us are experiencin...

Had any fender-benders lately?

I’ve recently experienced two near-collisions with cars. This has shaken me up! The first was walking to my car in the Kroegers parking lot when an SUV came barreling right at me...

New year, new book, new invitations ...

A teacher at a retreat on living and dying I recently attended has written a book that has captured my attention. The title is The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Te...

Devastating fire drives home the impermanence of things

Barn’s burnt down – Now I can see the moon. – Mizuta Masahide My daughter-in-law’s parents’ house burned to the ground during the recent fires in ...