aging parents

Dangling Conversations…


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Conversations with adult children about their aging parents eventually include the dilemma of declining health. Embedded in this emotional topic is the volatile issue of “advanced directives.” Everyone knows that you need one, but having just one version turns out…

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Predicting The Boomer Future…


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The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Alan Kay It’s 2026. The future is here, 14 year later. We are taking a sneak peak into the lives of two baby boomer couples that are now well…

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The Right Words…


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We are always searching for the right words when a death occurs. We mean well but our attempts to comfort may painfully produce the opposite result. This blog post by Carole Brody is a “refresher course” in how our words…

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So what’s in the world come over you…


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The title of this blog is taken from John Prine’s song “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” which seems apropos for an article on the profound impact of loneliness on the health of aging parents. Here’s the first punch line:…

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Bad Parent Connection: Now What?


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It’s one thing to have a decent connection to our aging parents. We may not be close, but we still feel compelled by love and loyalty to come along side them in the in last years of their lives. But…

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The First Cousin


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I grew up amid a herd of cousins, surrogate brothers and sisters who were embedded in my childhood. Operating as life scouts, they lived a few years ahead of me on the dangerous and uncharted perimeter of the adult world.…

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The Wrong Signals: Shutting Down Change Before It Starts


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How do we help our aging parents consider making positive changes in their lives? We want to help, and feel we have good ideas that could improve their quality of life. For example, we would like for them to consider:…

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Seeking Forgiveness: Linda Kriger


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This deeply moving article by Linda Kriger was published in 2008: http://www.forward.com/articles/14255/ I have read and reread this tale of estrangement, bitterness, regret, and the search for “repair” because I heard endless versions of it from friends, colleagues, clients, and…

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Navigating Caregiver Dilemmas


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As the drama of aging parents unfolds, it reveals itself as layers of interconnected dilemmas that resist heroic attempts to keep everything together. Like an unruly Rubik’s Cube, alignment in one caregiver area seems to trigger chaos in another. Just…

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