Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: aging
Where Old People Gather
Yesterday when I walked into the senior center where we were having a big meeting about moving the senior center to a new location, the smell of the place hit me in the face. There were a lot of people there, most smiling, many… Continue Reading “Where Old People Gather”
Old + Woman = Need for Sharper Elbows
It’s a double whammy. Being old – as in significantly old – and being a woman. You might as well have the word irrelevant tattooed across your forehead. Don’t pay any attention to me, your face says. I might have been smart as a… Continue Reading “Old + Woman = Need for Sharper Elbows”
A Week of Shorts: In the TSA Line
He was a tall guy, older, hefty, wearing khaki pants and a baseball cap. She was small and so thin and spare that it looked like someone had dressed a Halloween skeleton in jeans and a plaid shirt for fun, cinching a leather belt… Continue Reading “A Week of Shorts: In the TSA Line”
Hints of What was to Come: My Parents at 75
My parents were still thinking it was funny when my mother put the butter in the dishwasher. They had no idea what was down the road for them. How much covering up my dad would do, how many excuses he’d make, how many things… Continue Reading “Hints of What was to Come: My Parents at 75”
Who Dies First?
My husband and I agreed that if the other one died, we’ll get up the next morning and take the dogs to the dog park. “The dogs will still need to run, right?” And the survivor, whichever one of us it was, will still… Continue Reading “Who Dies First?”
Smile! Big Smile!
I had to get a head shot. It had been a very long time, so long that I look like a different person in my last head shot. And the one before that, I looked like I was in kindergarten. But something happened –… Continue Reading “Smile! Big Smile!”
A Meditation on Aging and Marriage
We drink coffee and read the Sunday paper in bed. Before I get to the obits, I go downstairs for the churros that we bought yesterday at El Rey Mexican Market. I think what could be better than eating a churro and celebrating not… Continue Reading “A Meditation on Aging and Marriage”
What’s That You Say, Old Lady?
Tomorrow night, I’m going to a town hall meeting on the county budget. I’m going to speak about my deep belief that older adults are not a priority for local government, that we have been on the back burner so long, the pot has… Continue Reading “What’s That You Say, Old Lady?”
There is Coffee
And there is coffee with a doughnut. It would be hard to want more. But there have been plenty of times in my life when coffee and a doughnut just led to yearning for something else or finding fault with what I had. Maybe… Continue Reading “There is Coffee”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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