I wish to thank all of you who have pre-ordered my book, Changing with Aging: Little Stories, Big Lessons, on Amazon. Its release date is September 6, and I’m pretty excited about the whole deal. Retirement has allowed me to focus on many “little things” that, in the past, slipped by quietly.
I have a fun game I hope you will play with me. Changing with Aging includes 10 chapters – 10 big lessons for healthy aging. Over the coming weeks, I will share a summary of a few stories that helped me learn each lesson. Your job, if you choose to play, is to send me one of your own “little stories” that helps you age in your own spectacular fashion.
So here goes. The first lesson is: Store happy memories in your brain. Play them often. I include 20 stories as examples in the book. One of my favorites is when my dad, Vern, months before he died in 1999, handed me his prized possession – his ACQUA Indiglo watch. I still wear it every day, even after it quit ticking years ago.
To be fair to my mom, Irene, I must share that I still use her Webster’s New Practical Dictionary from 1951. She wrote in the front pages, in her beautiful longhand, those words she had a tough time spelling. Now, decades later, when I struggle with the spelling of certain words, I look at the front page of her Webster’s and there it is: “reminiscence” or “pamphlet” or “occurred.”
These are two of my stored happy memories. What’s one of yours?