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There are turning points in everyone’s life, as in Frost’s poem “The road not taken”, times when what we did or didn’t do made all the difference. Sometimes, it isn’t even what we did or didn’t do, but the wisdom, kindness, or indifference of others. In any case, it shifts us toward a different destination, even though we might not perceive it at t

For some time now, I’ve been learning to drive more courteously. That means allowing people to make left-hand turns so the cars behind aren’t stuck waiting, letting people into traffic and out of their parking spots, not racing up on someone’s back bumper, and generally helping other drivers and the flow of traffic, even if it means sharing my righ

This column is being written late. That sort of sums up my success at keeping New Year’s resolutions. Happens every year: I pile up the intentions like someone investing in a stock called “Disappointment”, then I plunge into January and before no time at all, I’m reaping the dividends of failed expectation. Since I’m already behind on this, let’s l

Millennials aren’t found of talking about age because they are ‘as young as they feel’. They are the age they are and, at any point, that is the right age to be. Such is the confidence of youth. It is among older folks one hears the talk of how aging feels, or how one feels about aging. So comes the phrase, “I’m only as old as I feel”, to the Boome

We all make mistakes. Some are as simple as showing up at a friend’s for dinner on the wrong day, forgetting an important birthday, or missing a plane while sitting, watching it board and depart. All kinds of mistakes are made by people at all ages, but as you get older, mistakes seem to carry more significance. “Wow, Dad’s losing it. We were going

The first was realizing I’d aged out of joining the military. It was something I’d always kept as an option. It had its attractions. I could simply join the Navy and go see the world, except a day came when it was no longer possible: I was too old. That was a long time ago and had nearly been forgotten, until last week. While watching a British mys

The Golden Age of Naps is behind us. The great nappers of the past are gone. There will never be another President who can nap like Calvin Coolidge (apologies to Ronald Regan). There will never be another man so great he saved Western Civilization, yet managed to get his naps. I’m speaking here, of course, of Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill was a

Word came to me from my friend’s ex-wife: another buddy gone. I had to call the new wife for the details. What I was looking for was when the memorial service would be. What I got was her story about what happened. “He simply went out to mow the yard and never came back.” Not much of an epitaph. He and I had been friends back in the day, hitch hiki

Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC’s) are usually simply called equity lines. Contrary to what many people think, HELOC’s are mortgages. The property is the collateral for the loan and a mortgage is secured against the property and recorded with the city or town where the property is located. Usually, these are adjustable rate loans. That means the

It would be more accurate to call it “Old Time No Medicine”, for in the world Boomers grew up in, there was precious little medicine in the medicine cabinet. In the medicine chest at our house, there was a battered box of Band-Aid brand band-aids, a bottle of mercurochrome, and a bottle of Bayer Aspirin. There were other things, like my dad’s Noxze