September 17, 2021 Edition

Back To Childhood: The Eternal Return

Reflections on making the final bend around the circle of life.
By K.M. Brown
Old age has often been characterized as a return to childhood, and if it’s that, I’m at the beginning of my second one now. This is the good part, the part where I wake up every morning with nowhere to be that’s not of my choosing, the part where the day stretches gloriously ahead of me like a canvas, waiting for a brushstroke in any color I choose.

​Reflecting on the Rhythm of Life Lessons In the Rear-View Mirror

Why I Never Had Children
Hindsight is always 20/20
By Brenda Cyr
Sometimes I regret it.
By Mary McGrath
The other day I was watching excited kids getting their school supplies. They were full of giggles and had bright eyes as they chose their new pens, books, and pencil cases. They were anticipating their return to school and to start learning new things. Every year of school meant they were moving closer to being grown-up, and they couldn’t wait to get to that magical place.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that many of my friends have children as well as grandchildren. It’s a club that I am not a part of. Sometimes I look at them and I am envious because they have a lineage that will follow them. Descendants will refer to them in the years to come, combing over pictures and other memorabilia.

Maybe Junk Mail is More Valuable Than You Think

When your life has slowed down, waiting for the mail becomes the main event of the day.
By Jackie Madden Haugh
Excited at the thought that someone sent me a present, I clawed my way to the back of the mailbox with feverish hands and sent a pile of bills tumbling to the ground. No sooner did I extract the large carton than disappointment stomped its steel-toed boot on my foot. The bane of every mailbox’s existence had done it again. It was just a piece of junk.

It’s 2021 and My Dad Just Found Out About Seltzer

No, he didn’t try it. He just learned that it existed.
​
By Emily Kingsley
​​My parents are both healthy and alive, but they’re also old enough that a phone call at a strange time quickens my pulse. My dad called me during the middle of the day last week. He works at a college and I work at a high school, so neither one of us is usually free to make personal calls. But when his number popped up, I had a few free minutes. I gulped and answered.

September 3, 2021 Edition

You May Be Ageist If...

Most stories about ageism aren’t written by the aged. This one is.
By Ramona Griggs
As a writer and an old person, I’ve written about aging many times, but I’ve never written an entire piece about ageism itself. I’ve left it alone, I suppose because I thought it was a subject best left to the experts, but who is more expert at aging than someone who has leaped past the aging part and is now at the finish line -- the aged?

When the Future is Loss

 Fear and grief over crises that common sense tells us are on the way.  By Lisa Wathen
Driving south on Highway 13 through Delaware and the eastern shore of Virginia, I was sobbing. Big, gulping sobs. Ugly crying, you know what I mean. On and off, hiccoughing between tear storms, for 45 minutes. I was thinking of my parents, listening to music from my childhood, replaying memories from decades ago, hearing their voices in my head and grieving their loss, the devastating hole their absence means for my entire existence.

I Don't Want a Perfect Life

I'm OK with average.
By Micah Ward
​Every day brings new articles in many media outlets that give instructions on how we can each live our most perfect life. Usually, those articles come with lists: 

The Ten Steps to Achieve This Type of Wonderfulness.

The Eight Phases to Becoming Excellent at Something or Another.

Five Rules for Attaining this Great Thing or That Greater One

My Retirement Didn’t Go As Smoothly As I Thought It Would

I learned a lot of lessons  that first year.  By Ruby Lee
Since tomorrow is the first day of school here in my town, it has me reflecting on my thirty-two-year career in education. It was a good run while it lasted, but you know the old saying, “all good things must come to an end.”

I was excited to retire, but once the euphoria of not going to work wore off, I got pretty bored. I read a lot of books, but even that got old quickly.
​

I'll Sleep When I'm Old

No, you won't. But you'll have a lot of conversation about it with your spouse.  By Jean Campell
“How’d you sleep?”

“Great! I only got up twice to pee, and slept all the way till 5 a.m.!”

“Wow! That’s good.”

“What about you?”

“Meh. The usual.”

This is the scintillating dialogue that may rule.

August 20, 2021 Edition

Aging Brings Goodbyes

But also hellos.
By Robin James
Oh, to move like I did when I was young, with the grace and ease of a new body bursting with energy. Now my body is tired. Gravity has slithered its ghostly tendrils up my frame and pulled me down. This relentlessness has worn me out and created a world where I’m now aware of how I move carefully, gingerly, over uneven ground.

Twilight Years

What Happened to the Passion?
Wait, what twilight years?
​By Linda C. Smith
It's time to rekindle the wild spirit of youth.
By Brenda Cyr
I was tiptoeing through the news headlines the other evening when I saw something that referred to a person’s retirement as his or her twilight years. Oh, why was I tiptoeing through the news? Let me explain that before I continue.

Stuff: You Can't Take It With You

​Your kids wouldn’t be caught dead with it.
By Judy Millar
I’ve arrived in my seventies with SO MUCH baggage.
Do you want a Suzanne Somers’ ThighMaster? You’re in luck. This contraption hasn’t been compressed by my quivering thighs since circa 1990, but it regularly jams up my closet door. It’s yours for the taking.
Remember the sixties and seventies? Love-ins, sit-ins, great music, long hair and bell-bottoms? I remember it as a time of discovery and rebellion. We challenged everything we didn’t understand. The world was changing, and we were in charge. ​

The Joy of 71

And it's not just about sex.
By David Martin
This is not a paean to aging or a discourse on why we should treasure our so-called “golden years.” I’m not a glass-half-full kind of guy so I’m not a great candidate for penning such a work. After all, I’m already suffering the ravages of time. 

August 6, 2021 Edition

​It’s Time to End the Ageist Cultural Misconception of Retirement

Am I retired? Please stop asking.
​By Roger A. Reid, PhD
It happened again.
This time, I was at the gym, resting on one of the benches between sets. Without warning, it came right out of the blue , the same question I receive at least once a month: “You’re retired, aren’t you?”

I Have No Memory of That

Time
The necessity of forgetting.
By Laura Culberg
​Last night I got together with four of my best friends. We gathered to celebrate one of our birthdays. We’re all in our fifties now  —  some more solidly than others. We’re tamer than we once were, choosing mocktails... 
You may have more of it left than you think.
By Joe Thomas
​For most of my life I have had a bad understanding of time. Not that I can’t tell time, or that I don’t know how many days there are in a year, but in a more profound sense.

Sex in the Sixties

Or whatever decade you find yourself in.
By Catherine Dunn
Sex in the sixties. I know there was lots then, but not for me. I was a toddler at the beginning of that decade. Sex in my sixties. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s good. 

Open letter: On Reaching Level 50

I have now reached Level 50 in Life Diety System. And I have a complaint.  By Karl Hodge
Dear Deity Systems,
I have been playing your game, “Human Life,” for some time, but I am starting to think it may be broken.

July 23, 2021 Edition

Knowing When to Retire

Socks did it for me.
By Barry Knister
     As always before my first morning class, I’m sitting in my swivel chair in my office sipping coffee. I cross my legs and see for the first time — the first time I can remember — that I’m wearing mismatched socks.

They aren’t disturbingly mismatched — orange with purple, say, or green with heliotrope. One’s navy, the other dark gray. But there they are, mismatched socks sprouting up from my shoes as someone’s ring tone goes off outside my open door.

Hypersensitivity to Ageism

Is this a typical phase of aging?
By Dana Dobson

Shifting Gears in My Seventies

It’s okay to let bucket lists go with no regrets.
​By Carole Olsen
​     My 65th birthday is in August, and I’m in fierce denial that I’m “old.” The outside world, however, tells me otherwise — pretty much daily now — through innocent words and actions. I continue to take umbrage, but I pretend not to notice.

But I do keep inventory on what people say and do, allowing their commentary to grind away in my head.    

An Octogenarian Speaks

So listen up, kids.
​By Tom Phillips
   I read the stories in Crow’s Feet because I like to know what younger people are thinking. Right now there seems to be a wave of anxiety among Baby Boomers, as you turn 60 or 70.

I turned 79 and 1/2 this week, and decided since I’m closer to my 80th birthday than any other, I’ll just be 80. It’s the age of Wisdom. 
     A few days ago, I was planning to climb Mt La Conte in Tennessee for a second time. It didn’t happen. What did happen was that I admitted to myself I didn’t like to tent camp anymore.

For the past two years, I have left camping trips early, making excuses, “it’s too cold, it’s rainy, or I’ve done all I can do here.”

​I Just Turned 60: I Didn’t Wake Up Dead Today

And that's a great start to my birthday!
By Charles H. Roast
     Yes, my lovelies. I turned 60 today. I am alive and sorta kicking. Well, I was when I wrote this last night. But, hey! That’s what we old folks call an optimistic attitude. I am optimistic that I will wake up tomorrow morning alive and achy from all the old people pain I have.

They say old is a “state of mind.” 

July 9, 2021 Edition

What a Mature Woman Learned From a Navy Seal

​Embrace the suck and become a “Beast.”
By Julie Ranson

Do you have to be a beast every day? Yes. Yes, you do.
​
What is a beast? Historically, calling a person a beast denoted something negative like they’re rude, crude, and unacceptable. But more contemporary jargon employs the descriptive term, beast, as a compliment for someone who performs at the highest levels.
​
So, indeed, you should be a beast every day. I learned incredible lessons about being a beast when I read Embrace the Suck by Brent Gleeson, a bonafide Navy Seal.

What Is It With Young Women and Grey Hair in Stock Photos?

Please stop usurping our silver locks.
By Carol Lennox
I search for pictures of lovely older women with silver hair for a story I’m writing about, you guessed it, older women. Write what you know. Right?

How are women my actual age represented in stock photos on a platform that shall remain nameless because of licensing with another platform I would never intentionally offend? As overly wrinkled crones. Seriously. Go check it out. I’ll wait.

Are You an Online Senior Dating?

Meet My First Companion, Lorem Ipsum.
​By Lee J. Bentch
I signed up with an online dating app for Seniors. It’s a fun learning experience. I figured out how to swipe left, swipe right, clap, smile, connect up, have an excellent time, break up, move on, all the exciting things associated with getting out there again.
​
It’s been a few years since my wife passed. I figured it’s time to stretch my arms and get social again.

You Might Be Retired If...

How to spot a retiree.
By David Martin
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy has made a nice living from his shtick “You might be a redneck if…….” As in, “You might be a redneck if you’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws.”
​
What Mr. Foxworthy has done for rednecks, I’d like to do for retired guys. As a retired guy, I’ve begun to notice that most of us have similar traits, characteristics and lifestyles. Thus, you might be retired if:

My Young Visitor Said Her Mother Was Old

Her mother is my age, but I knew what she was saying.
By Ruby Lee
Everyone has heard the old saying. You know the one that goes, “Age is nothing but a number.” Well, tell that to my knees!

But I know what it is supposed to mean. You see plenty of seniors who are young at heart, and then you see the seniors who are just old and like being old. My son invited a young couple to our house on the 4th of July.

June 25, 2021 Edition

Wrinkle Free? That's Not Me

Wrinkles are badges we have earned.
​By ​​Margie Hord de Mendez
 Once, when I was in my 40’s, a photographer took my picture for a passport, and upon seeing the results, I hardly recognized that person! Before the days of Photoshop, he had smoothed out my face to remove the expression lines. My reaction: That’s not me!

We don’t usually love our wrinkles and, since then, I’ve collected a few more… or the same ones have deepened. Yet, that experience made me realize that at the same time, like our often-undercover gray hairs, they are badges we’ve earned. They tell a story.

Challenged to Honor the “In Sickness” Part 

It might come sooner than you think.​
​By ​Marie A. Bailey
     In February 2001, I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I was 43 and scared shitless of cancer. My husband was scared too, but kept it to himself for the most part. I was freaking out. Somebody had to stay calm and it was him. That March, I underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy as treatment. Fortunately, my recovery was swift and uneventful.

I'm Retired and I Don't Want to Travel

There, I've said it. I don't want to travel.
​By Orrin Onken
I don’t want to buy an RV and see the country. I don’t want to visit the Galapagos. I don’t want to cruise the rivers of Europe. 

​I recently retired from practicing law. I liked working. I ran my own office, got to do things my way, and earned a lot of money. But it was always work, and I never mistook it for anything else

Ageless Love

A poem.
​By ​Jaylee Reign
​antiquated love
memories of eras past
teetering precariously on life’s edge
yet still I turn on
for those who notice
my fine form
hidden in dusty corners

I'm Going to Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair

And send him on his way. Mitzi Gaynor in South Pacific​
​By Carol Lennox ​​
My mother was a lover of musicals. Specifically, sappy musicals full of love songs. South Pacific had love songs galore, but it wasn’t sappy.

June 10, 2021 Edition

Does Life Get Easier With Age?

Or do challenges just change?
​By Tess Wheeler 
​We live in such a youth-orientated world, we’re often made to feel past our sell-by dates as we hit middle-age and beyond. Popular culture is mainly aimed at people in their teens and twenties. The media, fashion, music, and leisure — by fifty-plus, we’re no longer the target audience.​

Stepping Stones

By Carol Price
I chose to walk across the stepping stones.
​I carefully placed one foot in front of the other as I crossed the living water. There was a slight wobble from time to time, but that’s OK. No one is expected to get it entirely right on every occasion.

My Journey to Accepting my Age 

What will your journey be? 
By Nancy Peckenham
​When I turned 58 years old it hit me. I could no longer deny I was getting old. My younger son graduated from high school that year and I was already sealing off empty rooms at home. I had just sold my small online news business and I had no plans to start another venture. I secretly wanted to be hired by an established media outlet that would value my experience, but I knew that was never to be.

It's the Little Moments

By Joe Wheeler
​If you look at the pictures on the walls of peoples homes, you would assume that it’s the big events that matter. You may see pictures that commemorate the birth of a child, that child’s first steps, the year they won the science fair competition, etc. You may see wedding pictures and graduation pictures...

Must Our Sex Lives Die Before We Do? 

Sex doesn’t have to stop after any age but recognizing and responding to its challenges is necessary
By David Mokotoff
​“Do you believe in same sex marriage?” a man was asked. “Of course I do,” he responded. “I have been married to the same woman for 40 years and we have been having the same sex for all of those years” This old joke takes on more significance as we age.