Consignment shopping rocks Nothing lifts my mood like having fun things to wear Call me shallow. But sometimes life gets to me and I require distraction.  Hence, shopping.  When the world is too much with me (war in the Middle East! And Ukraine! Climate change! Voter suppression!) shopping has the power to do for me what yoga,…

I know I said that, but now’s the time to make an exception. A colleague once told me, “I’m not interested in politics.” I was taken aback. The man was well-educated, a history teacher who drilled his seventh-graders on the Constitution until they could recite its articles in order.  I replied, “Well, it’s like what…

It could have been different A story in the New York Times broke my heart As tragic as the story is, it points to an opportunity to prevent more like it from happening. For someone with life experience and time available — maybe someone like you — it may even be a call to not only serve those in desperate…

Meet the zillionaire whose penis will help him live forever It sounds like the pitch for a near-future sci-fi movie: a guy who’s made zillions in hi-tech startups at a young age devotes his time and fortune not only to trying to fend off aging but to defeat death itself. So he sequesters himself in…

Because showing up matters “I love funerals!” said no one ever I doubt even morticians say that. At least, not out loud. For the rest of us, there is no “fun” in funerals. That holds true even when they’re called something else, like “memorial” or “celebration of life.” However they’re presented, they always mean the same…

I have a weird compulsion My husband enters the room. I close my browser tab He glances at me. “You told me you’d stopped,” he says, and I know he knows what I’ve been doing. “You said you weren’t going to do that again.” I scan Google News as though that’s what I’ve been looking at…

Popular trends I’m delighted will skip me I have not taken up residence on the dustheap of history Not yet, not by a long shot. In certain dimensions of life, I’m just getting started. As a confirmed and happy late bloomer, I aim to be the floral centerpiece nobody can overlook.  One discovery of aging is…

Once I would have, but I’m a little wiser now Visiting a foreign country is a lot like being a guest in someone’s home. As a guest, your job is to appreciate the hospitality you’re offered without demanding that things be run or arranged the same way they are at your house. That’s easy enough…

Nature’s balance is perfect. But brutal The day before I left on a long-planned, dream trip to Kenya, a blogger friend sent me a bon voyage message. In part, it read: Let it change you. Indeed it has, in ways I’m still discovering. A wildlife enthusiast my whole life, a former docent who once led…