For 20 years, I have been writing an upbeat aging column called “This Side of 60.” And in those 20 years, I’ve tried to summarize the best of what researchers and experts had to say, as well as sharing some basic common sense suggestions. After I write a column, I […]
Marie Snider – This Side of 60
It is cold out, minus double-digits. I’ve grown soft in my upper-middle age—seeking shelter from snow and wind instead of embracing the discomfort. No apologies. To ease the agony of cold toes and shoulders pulled up to my ears, I was imagining warm beaches and frothy drinks and the sound […]
Someone has said, “A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles near both ends of the mouth and by flexing muscles throughout the mouth.” It should result in the corners of the mouth turned up. And that is called a smile! In contrast to the corners of […]
Centenarians fascinate me. Think about it–they were alive before the airplane was invented, when refrigeration was an icebox with a large block of ice, when butter was churned instead of bought from the grocery store, and when driving a car 15 miles an hour was speeding. I have great respect […]
Goals are a very important part of my life–New Year’s resolutions, daily action plans, and goals just for the fun of it. Some goals have been on my lists for years and always seem to be unattainable, such as “being on time.” But others have been reached and help make […]
On Saturday afternoon, our front doorbell rang. When we answered, the delivery man already was gone. He’d left a box on the porch that read, “Merry Christmas from a late Santa and Happy Valentine’s Day from an early Cupid! Jun and Ree.” Jun Kaneko is an internationally- renowned sculptor whom […]
My calendar has daily affirmations. Sayings that help me to become the best person I can be. Such as last Saturday’s: “I deserve to live a good life, and I begin now. Today begins a new, positive chapter in my life.” It’s the “new” year–a time of new beginnings. Positive […]
My downfall is paper. White paper, yellow paper, fancy paper, plain paper, newspaper clippings, magazine articles. Whole file cabinets of paper–five four-drawer cabinets in all, in fact. I have an excellent filing system so I can find papers that I filed 20 or 30 years ago at the drop of […]
We spend a lifetime learning how to delegate. How to make an office or a shop run efficiently. How to train new employees. How to help other people do the many tasks the workplace requires. As well as how to expand our effectiveness by passing on the responsibility. And just […]
Every morning I get a motivational e-mail from Dr. Andrew Weil. Sometimes it describes the benefit of exercise or meditation, or the importance of friends. Other times, my e-mail has healthy diet tips–eat more greens or shitake mushrooms. Last Friday, for instance, it was a good-for-you apple-oat-bran muffin recipe. Whatever […]
Who wants to be old? Nobody, probably. In a society that values youth and disempowers age, the only sensible thing to want to be is young. The problem, however, is that you don’t get to choose youth or age. You’re born at a certain time and from that point on […]
Last weekend, my husband and I had a fun time with unexpected company. Friends from years ago. The first guests were three siblings of Ralph Lehman, who were here to celebrate Ralph’s 90th birthday. They came Saturday afternoon and I especially enjoyed the visit because we grew up together in […]
