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At Home in the World: The Adventures of Stan & Marcia
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By Stan Klein, November 2006, AARP The Magazine
Many retirees travel, but few actually sell their home and become globetrotters for good. Meet a couple who did just that, helping others as they go.
My wife, Marcia, hates when people ask her where we live. You'd think this would be an easy question to answer. But in fact, it's rather complicated. We don't really live anywhere. Or rather, we live everywhere. When we retired in 1997, at age 60, we sold our house in suburban Connecticut, disposed of nearly all our belongings, and we have been traveling the globe ever since. We're living on a shoestring budget, but our experiences are priceless, as we spend much of our time doing volunteer work and meeting the people in the countries we visit.
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Hollywood’s Hottest
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By Nancy Griffin, March & April 2005 AARP The Magazine
They're sexy, smart, and devoted to causes. All have won Oscars. We celebrate their glamour
French fashion designer Coco Chanel proposed this theory about a woman's appeal: "You can be gorgeous at twenty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life." We've got proof on this issue's cover, which features seven of the most alluring—and enduring—Academy Award-winning actresses of our time. Allure: the dictionarya defines it as the power to attract; enticement. These modern-day screen sirens entice not just with their striking looks and sex appeal but with their spirit and joie de vivre. We chose them because they embody the classic Hollywood virtues of beauty, glamour, grace, elegance, strength, smarts, and wit.
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Still Going Strong
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By Peg Tyre, MSNBC.com/Newsweek
Jan. 16, 2006 Issue - Decades before Jane Fonda felt the burn and Suzanne Somers thinned her thighs, Jack LaLanne was teaching Americans how to stay trim. At every stage of his 70-year career—first as a competitive body-builder and gym owner, later as the host of a long-running exercise show—LaLanne, now 91, says his goal was always the same: to help people get strong and stay active. Compact and energetic, LaLanne still displays his showman's sense of humor. (The secret of his longevity? He responds without missing a beat: "Clean thoughts and dirty girls.") But when it comes to good living, the godfather of fitness gets serious. "There are no shortcuts. No magic," he says. "The truth is, you've got to make smart food choices and exercise, not once in a while, but every day."
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Thirteen Million Baby Boomers Care for Ailing Parents, 25% Live with Parents
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Senior Journal
Discrepancies about how parents and boomers remember caregiver role points to complex relationship
Oct. 19, 2005 - Thirteen million of the nation's baby boomers are caregivers of sick parents and deeply involved in every facet of their parents' care, from diagnosis to treatment, according to a 2005 survey from Campbell-Ewald Health. Interestingly, the senior citizen parents do not remember much of that help.
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One Check or Many?
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By Eric Tyson, March & April 2007, AARP The Magazine
When it comes to pension payments, here’s hoping you can let the big one get away
After 30 years at the Ford Motor Company, Walter Murdoch* is one of the lucky ones. He’s already set to retire at age 56. His long career as a receiving clerk, plus a prudent habit of putting money aside, means Walter has all three legs of the proverbial retirement stool to support him: Social Security, a company pension, and savings in a 401(k) account. His wife, Susan, has these, too.
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Oh, Baby
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By Susan Crandell, September & October 2005, AARP The Magazine
They were a graying crowd, mostly parents of kids in their teens and 20s, sitting in a circle in a suburban New York living room, looking like a Botox party just before they load the syringes. But they were defying aging in a completely different, increasingly popular way—with a baby shower for their 51-year-old friend Claire Gruppo. As they oohed and aahed over tiny powder-blue sweaters and wondered at newfangled gadgets such as the Diaper Genie, everyone sipped flutes of champagne. Even Claire could join the toast, since she was having her baby not just at an unusual age but in an unusual way: a surrogate was pregnant with donor sperm, and in four days Claire would fly down to Florida for the birth.
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Four Steps to Growing Older Gracefully
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Karen O'Connor, Focus on the Family
Here's sage advice on how to spice up routines and restore enthusiasm and purpose to your life.
Put all these into practice and every day will be a day you can't wait to wake up to!
The year I turned 50 I did something remarkable — remarkable for me, that is. I signed up for an all-women beginner's backpack trip in Yosemite National Park. Hiking to the top of the famous Half Dome had been a dream of mine for many years, so when the opportunity arose, I went for it. I spent months getting in shape with weekly workouts, and learned all I could about tents, boots, backpacks and dehydrated food.
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Midlife Crisis: a Worldwide Woe
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Lynne Thompson, Focus on the Family
Welcome to middle age, a developmental milestone that bypasses all cultural barriers.
In America they’re getting tattoos, in England they’ve taken out loans for hair transplants, in Scotland they’re hitting the discos and in Japan, they’re having their colors analyzed. Welcome to middle age, a developmental milestone that bypasses all cultural barriers. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Europe, North America or the Orient, adults between the ages of 35-55 have come to the same conclusion, “Life is halfway over.”
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Grandparenting: A Second Chance
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John Perrodin, Focus on the Family
Maybe you didn't do such a great job of parenting your own kids, but becoming a grandfather (or a grandmother, for that matter) offers you the chance to do it right this time.
The next generation . . . it's not just a Star Trek spin-off. It's the hope each man has if he is fortunate enough to hold a grandbaby in his arms. We hear the adage, "Grandchildren are a blessing," but what exactly does that mean?
Too many men don't realize what a special opportunity they have when they become grandparents. Perhaps you weren't as involved as you should have been in your own kids' lives. Maybe you made mistakes you now regret. Being a grandfather offers you a second chance . . . a chance to do it right this time.
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Gifts of Encouragement
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Karen O’Connor, Focus on the Family
Here are ways to give hope, help and honor for the elderly.
I opened my e-mail one Monday morning and read a note from my 82-year-old friend Barbara. "I'm selling my home," she wrote, "and moving to an assisted living facility in Tacoma, Washington. My eyesight is failing and I can't live alone anymore." She added her new address, e-mail address and phone number, and asked that I keep in touch. At the time I lived in San Diego a long way from Tacoma. I was both sad and happy about the news. Barbara was single, had no children to help her, and was obviously in need of care. I congratulated her on making a wise decision, even though I realized her new lifestyle and living quarters would be very different from the old ones. I prayed she'd adjust easily and not feel depressed over the loss of her independence, something she had treasured.
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Click here to go to Family.org for the rest of the article
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