This week, Ben talked with me about what he thinks is “next.” You will notice he’s a creative thinker and his Catholic upbringing provides some parameters for his heavenly wanderings. Don’t let his humor lead you to overlook his thoughtful musings. I know Ben well. This is …
I make an effort to spend time with super smart people. One of them, of the academic variety, encouraged me to look up the work of Erik Erikson because he created a model for aging and coined the phrase ”identity crisis.” Wow, can you imagine that! I focused on the …
Above: Ben retrofitted his walker with a shelf so he can better carry things around the house. I was curious about the process Ben and Ann went through in making their choice of refusing additional medical support to prolong life and to stay at home during Ben’s final days. …
Good friends make fun of me when they discover I enjoy singing along to country and western songs. I take the insults with great pride and belt out, “I’m a member of a country club. Country music is what I love.” That generally gets the bad guys on their way. These are the …
Here is a special opportunity for us, thanks to Ben. I’ve known Ben for over 50 years, his wife Ann for even longer. I love them both. Ben is in his final stages of chronic kidney disease: incurable, final, close to death. Ben and Ann have agreed to share his last few …
I can’t help it. I fell in love with the letter Mark Twain’s brother wrote back in Muscatine, Iowa, on November 21, 1854. It might give a precious few of you a tip on how to proceed with your romantic endeavors. For the rest of us, it will remind us of a time long, long …
Joey died on December 8, a cool Tuesday in 2020. I just found out today. He lived in a small town in central Iowa. It’s been over 20 years since I chatted with Joey at a little cafe on the edge of his town off Highway 30. I remember laughing until tears came to our …
I’m sitting at the Cracker Box, having lunch with a few of my old buddies. We promised long ago we’d never dwell on our latest ailments or surgeries, but we can’t help ourselves. So much medical stuff is going on with us that we begin to out-story one another’s latest …
I often thought it was strange how older people took naps in the middle of the day. One afternoon around 2 p.m., while visiting my parents in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, I caught my dad, Vern, wrapped around his pillow, sound asleep. I knew he was out of it because he …
The older I get, the more I recognize the importance of friendship. My conviction was reinforced by a study from the University of Pennsylvania. It found when employees do not have friendships among colleagues at their jobs, they tend to care less about the quality of their …
