I was struck by a recent New York Times article describing how chefs and cookbook authors are now designing dishes for an older clientele—the aging Boomer with a sophisticated palate and no patience for reconstituted mashed potatoes, or any other kind of institutional gruel. For residents in senior communities, assisted-living facilities or plain-jane nursing homes, mealtime often takes on exaggerated…
A few months ago, I had my first personal encounter with kidney stones. No, not the kind you pass with pain. These were two boulders that had been growing in the dark for years, too big to go anywhere. Without getting into gory details, the solution was for a urologist to snake a catheter up through my nether regions and then…
All grandparents leave a legacy to their grandchildren, whether they intend to or not. It may be an inheritance, an heirloom or a box full of old letters and curling snapshots. It may be a legacy of presence or absence, predictably silly jokes or yearly fishing expeditions. Or it may be a legacy of being loved as babies and avoided…
Last week my wife and I were at a gala where everyone I met claimed to be an entrepreneur. Dentists, lawyers, real estate developers, marketing consultants, CEOs of large and small non-profits, retirees who flip houses, lawn care service owners, restaurateurs, auto dealers, investment advisors, and mass purveyors of magazine subscriptions: All of them told me they were entrepreneurs. Clearly,…
My July granddaughter/grandfather ritual has just ended. It began with me flying out to California to my son and daughter-in-law’s place. They have four daughters, ages 5, 9, 12, and 15. The blonde, blue-eyed youngest, wearing a pink princess dress and no shoes, waved her wand before throwing herself into my arms, crying, “I love you, Poppa!” The other three…
In our 20s all of our body parts were organic. What we needed was always at the ready. If we wanted to read, we grabbed a book and sat down. If we wanted to run, we put on track shoes and ran. When we wanted vertical or horizontal intimacy, we simply took off our clothes. We could eat anything we wanted…
My friend Tom travels frequently, often internationally, for his job. The airlines love him for it. His daughter, not so much. “She thinks I don’t spend enough time with my grandchildren or with my 92- year-old mother,” he told me the last time we had lunch together. “Every time I talk to my daughter, she harangues me about it. I’ve…
Sometimes life gets in your face. There I was, sitting peacefully in a cab in Washington, DC, on my way to an appointment. At a traffic light the driver looked at me in the rear-view mirror and asked, “How old do you think I am?” Without waiting for a reply he blurted out, “I’ll be 71 next week. My wife and I…
Twenty-five years ago, when the kids were still at home and I was single-mindedly focused on money and career and being a single parent, I let my stress-filled state define and motivate me. Now, with just as much ambition as I ever had, I rarely use adrenaline as an energy source. And I don’t sweat the small stuff the way…
I’ve just returned from the 17th North American Regional Conference of Ikebana International in Asheville, NC. I was thrilled to see so many people who’d come from all over the world—Asia, Europe, Hawaii, and all regions of the US—to participate. Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. I first got interested in it in my 40s when I was…
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