BOTH FAMILY AND FRIENDS I wish you all the very best of holidays. I was a slacker this weekend and didn’t get a post published. It felt great! To make up for it, here is my perspective on Christmas: The Bad, The Good, and the Sublime. FAREWELL TO GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST (Part 1/3) CONTENTMENT [...]
Within the next month I will be merging TheNewElder.com with our sister site, ElderAuthority.com. You will be able to access all the old content of TheNewElder plus the new content of ElderAuthority. I am posting an article each and everyday on ElderAuthority.com. In time there will be a mass of valid information that can be [...]
QUALIFIED GUARDIANS NEEDED! Part II is purely my opinion. I think we are in deep trouble and most of us don’t know it yet. Suzanne Cobb told me, “Becoming a legal guardian is like adopting a person.” You are on-call 24/7 and must be available to help make decisions related to medical care, prescriptions, socialization, [...]
Listen up folks. This is an important article about something we all need to understand, even if guardianship is not even on your radar. I wrote an article about Guardianship Basics for my ElderAuthority blog about a month ago. Not knowing much about guardianship, I did enough research to be confident about my content; however, [...]
This Thanksgiving marks the third anniversary of extreme ups and downs. I have so much to be thankful for. TIMELINE 11/11/08: Return from a wonderful 9-day hiking and camping trip in Big Bend National Park. 11/18/08: Break my right ankle and 5th metatarsal by slipping on stairs. 11/18/08 – 2/14/09: Discover that my boyfriend will [...]
The attached video includes a wonderful metaphor for the “Caregiver’s Journey” and reflects my own experience as a caregiver. We may not love it, but if we can learn to go with the flow, we will be fine. The video is the opening to a six part lecture on Lewy Body Dementia. The other five [...]
WE ARE NOT ALONE I have encouraged my fellow baby boomers to actively plan for getting older but have done little to address the concerns of other generations that will be affected. My excuse is that I do not feel qualified to write on the topic. I simply don’t know enough. This week a couple [...]
THE FELINE ALARM CLOCK Each morning, just as I am finally pulling myself out of bed, my aloof Maine Coon cat, Jack, jumps on the bed to snuggle. Since I can’t resist, it is usually 15 or 20 minutes later when I finally get on my feet. (I can never get him to jump on [...]
Last week I discovered a wonderful poet while listening to Terry Gross’ interview on NPR’s Fresh Air. Her name is Marie Howe. During the interview, she read a poem, “What the Living Do.” It moves my heart. Ms. Howe captures beautifully the grief and loss we feel after the death of a loved one. [...]
Family caregivers have a hard enough job without buffering the family members who are not caregivers. You have your hands full taking care of a dependent relative. NO BACK-SEAT DRIVERS Last week, I was talking to a girlfriend who, over the past year, has evolved into the primary caregiver for her elderly mother. She has [...]
follow: RSS