Every Sunday morning for the last decade or so, my friend and I meet up at a local coffee shop. We always settle into the same two chairs by the back, next to a wall that displays a rotating mix of work by local artists. The baristas greet us warmly and know our orders by heart. For me, it’s a nonfat chai latte and bagel with double cream cheese – a weekly…

The older I get, the more convinced I am that happiness is not limited to the big moments that read like a highlight reel. That may sound surprising coming from someone who writes about living vibrantly in a culture that celebrates achievements…

There is something delightfully ironic about commencement speeches. At the exact moment people are least interested in sitting still and listening, some notable steps up to a podium and delivers a carefully crafted sermon about life, purpose, resilience, and possibility…

At various points in my life, I have apparently been a proud member of multiple demographic clubs, none of which I remember signing up for. Born in 1963, I was considered to be on the tail end of the WWII Baby Boom movement, aptly named the Boomer generation…

Awards season may not seem like the most obvious place for a woman in her 60s to look for fashion inspiration. After all, much of the coverage focuses on young starlets in gowns that appear designed more for spectacle than for real life. And most of us are unlikely…

My mom never stopped asking me when I was going to have my long hair cut short. Even at 96 years old, she felt compelled to warn me that long hair on women of a certain age looked “inappropriate,” her word for attention-seeking. With an adorable…

A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with a dear friend who remarked that she couldn’t believe her 16-year-old granddaughter had gotten her driver’s license. That comment led to a whole conversation about who we were at 16, back when we were dancing…

For more than a decade, I’ve worked in nonprofit branding – the business of shaping how a product, person, or service is perceived by an audience. It’s a process that’s both strategic and deeply intentional, rooted in understanding what people want, how they feel, and what sparks connection…

The process of renovating my 60-year-old primary bathroom started not with a design consultation or interview with a general contractor but with a conversation about dying. As suggested by all the smart financial planners, my daughters and I had a heart-to-heart chat about how…

You’ve traded deadlines for downtime, meetings for me-time, and that inbox full of “urgent” emails for a calendar full of… well, white space. You thought closing the door on your 40+-year career would feel glorious – and mostly it does – but sometimes, you find yourself three episodes…