Author - The Durango Herald

What we save and what we leave

One of my indoor projects this winter is to go through an old trunk I have and sort out what to throw out and what to leave for my kids when I’m gone. It’s all part of getting my ducks in a ...

DATE: Mar 2, 2019 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Memory is another complication of aging

Memory is an essential part of our self-awareness. According to neurobiologist Gerald Edelman, it is connected to our actual living bodies, and along with identity and space, def...

DATE: Feb 3, 2019 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Comparing bloom of adolescence to the elder stage of life

While visiting my family in California in November, we were all stuck inside for much of the time because of the smoke from the Camp Fire. As a result, my 12-year-old granddaught...

DATE: Jan 5, 2019 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

How do we celebrate, remember and honor a life?

December feels like endings. It’s the end of the year, the end of my garden and the end of the light in the late afternoons until the winter solstice starts shifting us back. Fun...

DATE: Dec 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: 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...

DATE: Nov 3, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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...

DATE: Oct 6, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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 ...

DATE: Sep 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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...

DATE: Aug 4, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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...

DATE: Jul 7, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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 ...

DATE: May 31, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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...

DATE: May 4, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

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, ...

DATE: Apr 7, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging