The Aging Perspective

SW Florida may be a popular vacation spot, for many, but every year I  pack my bags and hit the road for my summer vacation. It was time for a road trip, and this year’s destination was the Iowa State Fair. My first destination was Minneapolis Mn, a young person's city with independent coffee shops on every corner and a sense of purpose felt by everyone enjoying every minute of outside life before the cold settles back in. A city rich in art, diversity, beautiful lakes, and knowing that Bob Dylan played his early music here makes me smile. On...

  As we celebrate our Nation's independence, this July 4th, I've been searching for that special something that reminds me of what makes us great as a collective group, deserving of the freedom that our forefathers hoped we would aspire to.  There are so many things to be grateful for in this country such as the men and women who risk their lives to keep us safe, nurses and doctors who perform miracles every day, dedicated teachers who help us prepare and inspire our children, and the countless people that perform the jobs every day to keep us fed, comfortable...

J.S. prefers to remain quiet in the back of our adult day center's living room. Each day he removes his colored pencils from his bag along with his ruler and draws from photographs and puzzle boxes the images that seem to catch his eye. It is not that he just a good artist but that he has only been drawing like this since his life-changing event. J- is a man of many talents, past and present. Drawing has become his passion now, and while communicating is difficult; he now lets his art speak for himself. If he sees something that...

Giant castles and faraway place are just some of the images that describe a child’s imagination. For us, it was the skinny house. Tucked away and set back on a modest little street called Grand, in Mamaroneck NY, sits this simple little home we’ve always referred to as the skinny red house. Our history and affection for this place began as a childhood memory as our family drove southbound along the I-95 NY Thruway for frequent visits into the city from our home in Stamford Ct. The anticipation was always there and when you looked over across the eastbound lane,...

It’s hard to imagine acknowledging someone’s greatness today without first seeing or hearing it on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook. Remember this concept, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” George Berkeley, philosopher, best raised the question with the idea of observation and perception, by asking “is sound only sound if one hears it? The same can be asked about someone’s personal greatness. Can one’s greatness be perceived as something special even if nobody even knows it exists? I believe the answer is yes since greatness is first acknowledged by the individual and...