When I experienced one of my first of many caregiving burn out moments, I didn't know where to turn. I was fortunate to be guided toward a local  Palliative Care organization. After detailing our family situation,the Nurse Practitioner told me to, "Remember everybody matters". Seems obvious, right? But as anyone who has had caregiving responsibility knows; it is easy to disappear, to fully vanquish oneself to the needs of someone else, especially when those needs are great.  I was profoundly reminded of this when reading a memo to Dr. Tedros, the Director of the World Health Organization,  written by Michael Hodin, Ceo...

For most of us who are full or part time caregivers the role may have come on subtly. My mother was diagnosed with a chronic illness 46 years ago. In the beginning for our entire family the change was to be more mindful of her painful hands, knees and feet. To create the space for her to move as easily as possible through the house and through the world. And trying to; in whatever small way,  offer her some relief from her pain.  Over the years her disease and some of the treatments took their inevitable toll. We found ourselves...

Lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s song California : Sitting in a park in Paris France Reading the news and it sure looks bad …  I am stopping the quote right there, because in the era of the 24 hour news/fake news/reality unreality: destruction, distortion, despair … sometimes we need to just take a break. Deep Breath – how about a joke?  We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress. Will Rogers An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her....

        When asked if they’d like to live to be 100 more people , 77%, say yes. Often with a caveat or two. The biggest concerns for most people are health, health care and finances. If you live 20 or 30 years longer then you planned  - then what?        People fear diminished capacity – either physical, intellectual or both. There has been a lot of great new evidence that even if you don’t live in a Blue Zone you can greatly affect how you age with diet, exercise and staying connected to your community.  And the...

Aging in (someone else's) Place

Lots of people of all ages. live alone in the U.S. In 2010 almost 1/3 of older adults lived alone. According to the Pew Research Center 

For many reasons: financial, social, mental and physical health -  people are looking for creative options to living alone. One of them is home sharing and  there are now plenty of wonderful ways to find a roommate(s). .