Jul 21, 2021
Are you ready to spend a few minutes with stories about life as we age? If so, be prepared to shake your head in agreement at the observations shared on these pages. Be prepared as well to start laughing or to feel your sense of injustice provoked. If retirement is on your mind, you’ll find people sharing their experiences, both good and not so great.
If you’re a Crow’s Feet writer, or would like to become one, please read the updated guidelines on our Submissions page. We’ve changed a couple of requirements, including a limit on accepting articles previously published on Medium. We’re also putting greater emphasis on the importance of proofreading your material before submitting it, correcting typos and style issues. The proofreading section has all the style guidelines we use.
Now, let’s get on with this week’s stories.
Our Stories
If You Could Do It All Over Again. If you really think about it, would you? By Micah Ward
How Our Memories Serve Us. True or not, they play a role in how we see ourselves as we age. By Nancy Peckenham
Blackberries and Cream: A Sweet Memory with Thorns. The brain on blackberries. Could be dangerous. Works for me. By Julia E Hubbel
The Ostrich. A position no yogini ever recommends. By Nalini MacNab
Twilight Years. Wait, what twilight years? By Linda C Smith
What Parts of You Should You Leave Behind? Covid, quarantine and a brand new life are forcing that question. What parts of an old life belong in this new one? By Julia E Hubbel
Opening Doors. Living small, or large, in my sixties. By Judah Leblang
One Man Plans. Figuring out the next chapter in middle age. By Judah Leblang
An Octogenarian Speaks. So listen up, kids. By Tom Phillips
Humor
I Just Turned 60: I Didn’t Wake Up Dead Today. And that’s a great start to my birthday! By Charles H. Roast
Open letter: On reaching level 50. I have now reached level 50 in Life by Deity Systems. And I have a complaint. By Karl Hodge
Apps Are Us. How my phone became my BFF. By Eileen Vorbach Collins
My Date Thanked Me For Not Murdering Her. I told her, “I only murder on the second Tuesday of the fifth week of the thirteenth month.” By Charles H. Roast
The Postmaster Made My Town Disappear. Not to worry, he gave me a new one. By Brian Dickens Barrabee
Old Cars from the 50s and 60s. What cars did you drive? By Mary McGrathP
Favorite Board Games from the 50’s and 60’s. What were some of your favorites? By Mary McGrath
Retirement
“How Does It Feel to be Retired?” My answer to this question is evolving. By Pat Austin Becker
I Retired and I Miss My Colleagues from Work. It feels good to belong to something and hurts to give it up. By Orrin Onken
Things I’ve Noticed Now That I’m Retired. I could give a !*-3j;!*& about certain things! By Mary McGrath
The Stranger in My Living Room. You’ve changed since you retired. By Mary McGrath
The Jobs I Took After Retiring from My Career. “It has to be fun” was my motto for almost fifteen years. By Carole Olsen
My Studio is Up and Ready to Go. Dispatches from the little retirement homestead in a mobile home park. By Jean Crawford Evans
Health
What My Readers Have to Say About Fitness and Why I Get So Energized. People are out there getting this done. Let’s talk about that. By Julia E Hubbel
It’s Only Impossible Once.Release expectations and do it. By Louise Foerster
Being in a Physical Rehab Hospital is Causing Me to Say Things My Sweet Little Grandmother Said. Maybe it’s from being surrounded by people even older than me. By Carol Lennox
The Older I Get, The Less I Can Focus. Living With ADD As a Senior. By Ruby Lee
Why I Drink Diet Cola. I drink diet cola, because I want to lose weight and it tastes good. By Carol Seymour
My Hard of Hearing Life. Sudden hearing loss in middle age. By Judah LeblangPublished on Jul 15
Stroke is a Bully. Fighting a losing battle in the schoolyard of Dad’s brain. By Marne Platt
Five Lessons From My Visit to a Nursing Home. My perspective as a 20-something. By Destiny S. Harris
Hacks
Your Ideal Age Isn’t 36. It is so much more… By Regina Clarke
Volunteering for the Over-60’s. Exciting opportunities you might not have thought about. By Carol Price
Four Simple Ways for Seniors to Avoid Scammers. We are no fools! By Greta Dias
Marketing to Seniors Is a Joke. Seniors deserve better. By Carol Price
Final Words
Something Missing In Family Traditions. I’m convinced the glue that holds families together are traditions. By Brian Dickens Barrabee
This Seventyish Couple Eats Their Way Through an Anti-Inflammatory Menu for Three Days. With excellent results and we’re glad it’s over. By Jean Anne Feldeisen
A Seventyish Woman Wants to Stand Beside Men in the Fight for Equal Rights.Men intrigue me and often touch my heart. By Jean Anne Feldeisen
A 70ish Woman Remembers: Three Men Who Blessed my Life as a Young Woman.They made a big contribution to the person I am today. By Jean Anne Feldeisen
Magic Words for Millennials. What they long to hear from us Boomers. By Cindy Shore Smith
Because I Said So and Other Parenting Strategies of the Past. And why I did not become a nun. By Catherine Dunn
Moments That Make Life.People make our lives richer and our time here worth living. By Catherine Dunn
When I Die, I Don’t Care If You Fight Over My Money. Establishing the will, trust, and related documents. By Destiny S. Harris
Layers of Seniority with A Vision of the Past: Do You Have an Optimistic Future? I’ve been a Senior three times and getting better at it. By Lee J. Bentch
The Nut Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree in My Family. Free Love and the Age of Aquarius Was Not Ok In My Small Southern Town in the 1970s. By Ruby Lee
