There was a time when you said the word “Retirement” and everyone knew what it meant. There was a consensual definition and set of expectations that looked like this: You had worked for years, probably at the same company, reasonably assured that you could move “up the ladder” as the people above you retired or transferred and made room for…
Writing a book, as you may know, requires multiple skills. At the conceptual level, whether it’s nonfiction or fiction, you must have the core ideas and the ability to articulate the content. You have to make it interesting, coherent, and allow the reader to connect the dots. It’s all too easy to lose track or become overwhelmed with so many…
I keep thinking about a conversation I had with my friend Kathy. We’ve been friends, metaphorically speaking, since Jefferson was President. There isn’t much we don’t know about each other. Every few weeks we get on the phone and catch up about our kids, her mother (the only survivor among our parents), our work and our lives. During our…
Youth is life in the fast lane. Our metabolism is high, our reflexes are quick, our intensity is great, and we live at a fast pace. As we explore what life has to offer, we take risks in the belief that life is eternal. We believe that any misfortunes or setbacks will be followed by rapid recovery, and very soon…
My friend Peter emailed me after reading a recent opinion piece by David Brooks about the so-called midlife crisis. “The image of midlife as a time of crisis is almost the opposite of what this period of life is really about,” Peter wrote. I can’t agree enough. Midlife can be a bit disorienting and scary from time to time, but…
As my friend Bob succumbed to leukemia, I followed him closely over a period of many months. We began with an ambulatory Bob telling me, laughing, “not to be a smartass” when I hurled jokey provocations at him. We ended with me feeding him thickened apple juice through a straw, until he couldn’t even manage that. He died last…
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