Family

You’ve probably read professional relationship advice about how to survive with your partner into retirement. That always comes with lots of practical instructions about working together and enjoying each other’s company. It all sounds a bit twee…

My 15-year-old grandson died by suicide six weeks ago. At 3pm, six weeks ago, I was wondering how many of the delicious cookies that I’d just baked I could eat. By 5pm, my whole world had changed for ever. To say life is now difficult is a complete…

Summer means an escape from the rigid schedule and dedicated study that school imposes – a time to have fun. However, exploring and expanding knowledge through reading should continue year-round. As grandparents, you can make reading…

The best benefit of “Camp Grandma & Grandpa” for us during last summer’s pandemic peak was precious time with our grandsons and their parents. We never shared this many weeks together with them since their own childhood… and they probably…

Having children is overrated. The idea is you raise your kids until they’re 18 and it’s over. No, it isn’t. It’s never over because your those kids become your parents when they grow up. My children are grown and I’d love to get over them, but I can’t…

Should you read your parents’ letters? Are their journals and private musings cathartic or potentially devastating? I face this question right now, and it’s a big one. A while back, after moving to Eugene, Oregon this past year, I saw an article by a fellow Sixty writer…

When I taught writing, I asked my students to describe their parents by using the five senses. Gosh, does this writing exercise elicit vibrant responses! Here are some words my community college students, who ranged in age from 18 to 60, used to describe…

If you are over 50 and divorced, you may feel stuck, unable to move on after the divorce. In my years as a divorce recovery coach, I have discovered the reason divorced women over 50 feel stuck is because they are operating on 4 myths that keep them…

Another Mother’s Day has come and gone. It was filled with both blessings and pain. Mothering is like that. Not too long ago, one of my children was estranged from me. It was not how I envisioned a relationship with an adult child. Even the word “estranged”…

When I was a young married person, I would sometimes find myself in the company of an older married couple who had been together for a very long time. It was impossible not to notice that they would frequently disagree over the most unimportant…