When our daughter was about five, she told me she really didn’t want to die, and in fact, didn’t think she actually would. Death was probably going to skip her. Sad to say, she kind of spoke for a lot of us. Although it’s one of the few things we have no choice about, we …more

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Our love affair with the Algarve began five years ago when we arrived in the southernmost region of Portugal to walk the Via Algarviana. Unlike the majority of holidaymakers, we weren’t heading to the coast for a fortnight of sun, sand and Sagres (the local beer). In fact, we wouldn’t be setting foot on a …more

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Is love like a plague? That’s what Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez suggests in Love in the Time of Cholera. In today’s frightening COVID-19 pandemic, the situation may be turned on its head. The plague gets in the way of our love. Because of the pandemic, we may not be able to visit a …more

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in The Fellowship of the Ring. But, rarely do we know for sure how much time may be available. So, making end-of-life decisions for ourselves or our loved ones is seldom simple and sometimes excruciating. If …more

I feel very lucky. That wasn’t always the case. Stricken with Lyme Disease after moving to Ojai, California in 1997, my life went from a very busy job as a Nurse Practitioner in the second busiest emergency room in Los Angeles county to virtually bedridden. Initially, I found the tick bite and had prophylactic treatment …more

Imagine driving along a back country road in the central volcanic region of Mexico, awed by the unusual shapes of the mountains. You hit a speed bump. Bam! You jam on the brakes. A native described the speed bumps, “They are dead policemen,” he said. In life, one experiences similar shocking bumps of awareness, slowing you …more

No matter what our age, in today’s culture many of us have been seduced into believing that we must control our weight to live righteously. While there’s nothing wrong with being mindful of what the scale has to say, we’ll derive greater physical and mental benefits from focusing on overall health and well-being than on …more

May is Older Americans Month! Each year, the Administration on Community Living (ACL) within the Federal government sponsors this month of recognition with a theme that changes from year to year. Whether you are one of our more than 49 million older Americans or if your aim is to join their ranks in the future, …more