I am very happy to have this essay published on The Ethel, one of AARP’s newest publications. “Grandmothering has been quite successful in my life, and I am ready to begin my grandmothering experience. There’s just one little problem….” I hope you will click the link above and enjoy! The post Everyone I Know is a Grandmother Except Me appeared first on Sharon Greenthal ..read more

There are days when it feels like this is the end. Days when the monotony of life during COVID and the ongoing drone of political commentary and fighting become almost too much to bear. There are moments when I feel like sad, miserable Peggy Lee and sing to myself “Is that all there is?” Days spent searching for something to watch, something to read, something to eat or drink or do that will make me feel better and optimistic and, well, normal. Text chains among friends are not about our plans or celebrations but about what we’ve watched that has distracted us, at least for a while, from the b ..read more

We have been bored. We have been scared. We have been frustrated. We have been angry. The tedium of being at home during the last 3 months has been, at times, unbearable. But now I am embarrassed that I ever complained about not being able to go and do and see and buy and travel and blah blah blah. How many times has someone said to you “Get off social media/take a news break/find some peace in these challenging times?” Maybe that was true about the constant COVID coverage, but not anymore. I am exhausted. I know most of you are too. The constant barrage of bad news, of lies, of dangerous lead ..read more

We are running out of things to talk about. All of us. The other day I texted a group of friends: Hi. That’s it, that’s all I have to say today. They were all equally as boring as I was. I love my friends, really I do. There’s just nothing, absolutely nothing, new to talk about. Phone calls are brief though still loving and concerned: “How are you?” “I’m ok, how are you?” “I’m alright. What are you up to?” “What are you up to” is a question that should be banned for the time being. Some people are using this time wisely. I’m not doing that so much. Some people are still working, so that ta ..read more

I have not left my house in 5 weeks, since COVID-19 became a pandemic. I’ve gone for walks in my neighborhood, and I sit on my front porch with my husband, watching people walk to and from the beach, which they are not allowed to be on anymore. My husband loves to sit out there for hours, but I grow restless and wander inside, picking up a book, turning on the TV, or flipping through a magazine. I don’t do the errands – my husband does. We decided one of us would go out and one would stay home. I am not working at all, since no one wants to read anything except about the Coronavirus, and I hav ..read more

Unlike before, seniors today prefer aging in place. This trend is partly driven by the rapid growth of the senior population, together with the rising costs of long-term care. Broader service abilities and technology facilitates services like home delivery, which makes it easier for the aged to live independently in their homes. After spending decades raising their families in their homes, many older adults wish to live with cherished memories in the same homes. Simple tasks like opening doors may become a struggle for a senior living alone. Here are some tips on home remodeling to suppo ..read more

On a girls’ getaway (“girls” may be a questionable description of us) with 3 of my oldest and closest friends, I confessed that I was feeling a little confused about my upcoming 58th birthday. We were on our umpteenth trip together and staying at one of my friend’s condo on the beach. These are my Golden Girls, the four of us fiercely committed to our friendship even though we can drive each other crazy. Sort of like Blanche and Dorothy and Rose and Sophia. And like the original Golden Girls, we know it’s easier to get older when good friends are doing it with you. “58 is a weird number ..read more

Every parent screws up. Every parent makes big mistakes, little errors, bad choices and uses poor judgment. Every mother has yelled at her kids in the grocery store, and every dad has lost his temper when his children talk back. Every family focuses on the wrong things sometimes, ignoring the good when the bad overwhelms. Every child is affected by their parents’ personality quirks and flaws, and every parent looks at their children and wonders, “Where the heck did he/she come from?” No one gets out of parenting without making bad decisions or acting inappropriately. Anyone who tells yo ..read more

Books, books, books. It used to be easy for me to get engrossed in stories. I would pick up a book and read it, not distracted by the Internet, the news, my phone or any other shiny objects. All I needed was a book. Now, in my middle-age years, my patience for ordinary books has grown thin and the joy of discovering a book that captures my attention – and keeps it – is rare. As I do every for year, I’m sharing the ten books of 2019 that I could not put down. The Obesity Code – Dr. Jason Fung I am starting my list with this book because it has changed the way I eat. Giving up sugar, proc ..read more

My grandmother lived to be 98 years old. For 23 years, there were four generations of us on my mother’s side of the family, until I was 50. We did not take this lightly–in fact, my grandmother, being the attention-loving person that she was, would gladly share this fact with anyone, any place we went. “We’re four generations!” she said to the ticket taker at the merry-go-round at the local mall as I was taking my 3-year-old daughter for a ride. He smiled and nodded, a little bemused at her announcement. “We’re four generations!” she said to the waitress at the local diner, who oohed and ..read more