For millennia homes housed more than just the nuclear family, it's still true in what we describe as traditional cultures. In the United States and elsewhere  recently more and more families are returning to this tradition, multi generations ( two and often three generations) living together.  There are many different reasons this happens: due to economics, need for care, the housing shortage,  sometimes a combination of factors drive the choice. Anyone who has done it by default or desire knows it is can be a challenge, very complicated and equally rewarding. Remarkably this trend is not just older...

This one is personal, last Monday I fractured my hip. Not as you might imagine from being older, out of shape, fragile boned ( though we'll  have to wait for a bone density scan to be certain  ... possibly to be continued?) or all of the aforementioned, BUT from stopping a dog fight, flying through the air like a cartoon character and landing directly on the pavement on my hip. The owners of the dog I failed to shield my dog from, asked if I was ok, offered to help me up, I demurred, saying I was just a touch shaken...

Life is rarely linear. We imagine and try to impose order, but really who are we kidding? When my children were young I always felt as though I were improvising. Sometimes it seemed I was in a sweet spot and no matter the complexities things would just turn out right, other times not so much. And there were those perfect storm days that felt like unmitigated disaster.  Reading Michelle Woo's How to Parent like an Improv Actor  I realized there are some great lessons here for those of us caring for older adults.  Don’t fear silence  Andrea Wetherald, an improv...

Every May our nation observes Older Americans Month. This year the theme is: Connect : with friends, family, and services that support participation. Create: by engaging in activities that promote learning, health, and personal enrichment. Contribute :  time, talent, and life experience to benefit others. As is so often the case these official proclamations and observations seem to go nowhere in particular or only speak to those who are already engaged in celebrating our older friends and family.  The list above can and should cut both ways: older people can offer us a connection to our history, to participation in...

Yesterday here in New England, we had a sunny warm day, a gloomy chilly day, a sudden downpour, a rise in heat and humidity as the sun broke through the clouds and finally a massive window shaking thunderstorm! This is normal spring-weather these days, wide temperature swings within a few hours. And that is outdoors - inside it can be almost as bad some places still think the heat should be cranked up even when the outside temperature is approaching 70 degrees. Or, and harder to escape, are all the over-air-conditioned public spaces.  This makes our cape the perfect one...