The Aging Perspective

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...

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” -Virginia Woolf I recently was out dining with some friends and when the waiter delivered our dinners my reaction was, “this meal is just too pretty to eat." I literally hesitated before delving into my salmon dish avoiding all destruction of the chef’s artistic presentation. The truth was the dish was so pretty that even if the meal was mediocre, I overlooked it. For me, the presentation influenced my dining experience in a positive way. The concept of using a therapeutic dining approach, for people with...

Are you willing to put your phone down a little bit every day? Take the Challenge Sometimes you have to disconnect to stay connected. Remember the old days when you had eye contact during a conversation? When everyone wasn't looking down at a device in their hands? We've become so focused on that tiny screen that we forget the big picture, the people right in front of us.                                                             - Regina Brett   Conversation...