Are you a modern elder? And what does that mean exactly? Read about a midlife wisdom school and preparing for retirement.
Am I a Modern Elder?
Nana Who?
"With the words, You are a grandmother... I became something different than I'd ever been before." Anna Quindlen from Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting by Anna Quindlen At Orchestra Hall with Louis to hear Cantus sing with Sweet Honey in the Rock, 2017. For the first time, my husband (aka Papa) and I (Didi) took care [...]
Swim Flight
In a dream I dive off a pier into a lake. I am not a strong swimmer, but today I dive with ease, surface quickly and skim along the water’s surface like Olympic racers do, in a rhythm that is easy and strong, fast and even. I can see fish and plant life below the [...]
Containing Grief
My parents died of cancer, mom (in 2017) just 8 weeks after diagnosis and Dad (in 2014) after being sick for a year. And over these last few years, I have been a student of grief, hungry for ways to express it in a healing way, to seek out others to give me a “how [...]
Foraging
One of my little rituals while at the cabin is to fill three small vases with the blooms and greens I gather from my first walk. I grab my scissors and walk the yard, driveway and road ditches. I guess you could say I forage for flora. Flora is the plant life of a particular [...]
Livelihood
"I find people for jobs, not jobs for people." My day job is search. Some refer to us as "headhunters" which seems a bit primitive, and limiting. In my work to find the right person for a particular role, I consider the whole person, not just their knowledge and experience. Will they want to live [...]
Sorrow to Joy in Line at Trader Joe’s
"Franceso Bought Me Flowers," a true act of care and kindness I won't forget.
An Earlier Spring
I know the trip will set me back a couple of weeks in spring-time when I watch the green recede with each mile we travel north. But I am happy to go back to an earlier spring. I know how short lived it is.
Life keeps rolling, and the kids are out in front, it’s me that has to catch up.
Kids with happy faces on bikes, riding ahead. Mom peddling to catch up. That is what parenting feels like, always a little out in front. Sometimes you need to stop and trust that things will be okay.
Forest Bathing
Friluftsliv “open air living” is the desire to be in nature. The Japanese call it shinrin-yoku “taking in the forest atmosphere” or “forest bathing.” I first heard of this concept in a yoga class. We were asked to gaze out the window and find a tree in the near distance and study it while in [...]
Matriarchy 