Growing Bolder Community

I’m full of the day I just experienced. My niece is 29 today. Typhannie is one month older than my son who has just completed the coursework for his Ph.D. Our family was heart broken when we found out she was pregnant again this past year (sans husband). Last fall, however, a miracle happened. My brother, with whom she resides, called me with a question- “What would you think if...

(READERS' NOTE: I originally wrote this for the 4th of July, 2007. I thought, with minor alterations, it is worth repeating. John) On this 4th of July holiday, I think it is time for everyone to take a deep breath, sit back, and thank God, thank their parents or thank good fortune for being a citizen of this great nation. We live in trying times - the general war against terrorism, the...

There are a lot of ‘fifty’ things we encounter in life. The Kennedy half dollar is fifty cents, there are 50 states, we have speed limits of 50 and in Kabbalah there are 50 Gates of Wisdom (or Understanding) and 50 Gates of Impurity; Paul Simon sung of the "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, there is a rapper nicknamed 50 Cent and fifty percent is equivalent to one half, so that the phrase...

In reading others blogs I ran across one written recently by Dena Stewart. It mentioned that her birthday was on October 5. Her blog reminded me of one of the several musings I have written about birthdays (we seniors have lots of them). So as a Belated gift to Dena - and all others who have or are going to celebrate their birthday, I offer you the following musing that I wrote back in March...

In many respects living life is like taking a ride in a cab. When you get in the cab the flag is dropped and the meter starts running. In a similar fashion the day we are born the meter in the cab that is going to take us through life starts ticking. If the cab ride is interesting and exciting, as life often is, we tend to ignore that meter. It just keeps racking up the miles and cost - the...

In Florida, marking time when talking about people's own lives is different than in most states. It may have to do with our senior population. As sizable as it is most of the year, it grows significantly during the first three months of the year when our snowbirds return. And as you might expect, when a flock of snowbirds gather at a local restaurant, the talk often is of the past. I find...

The number thirty, depicted as -30-, is used to indicate the end of a newspaper (or broadcast) story; it's a copy editor's typographical notation. Yet, among all the other ways thirty is used in our daily lives, there is one that is special. It is that day when someone turns thirty - a special and magical birthday. It is not the ending but rather the start of the best years of one's life....