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Memoir

Storyzon: Your Life Story Jumps Off the Page

May 22nd, 2008 by Gilbert Guide

Storytelling is a centuries-old craft that gives us colorful glimpses into history. But what about the personal stories of our own history? Maybe the elderly just aren’t encouraged enough to tell their stories. Whatever the case, seniors are an essential component in bringing these histories to life—when we learn about our ancestors, we learn about ourselves in the process. Storytelling can be a highly cathartic practice. For seniors, the recollection and telling of the tale is sometimes as therapeutic...Read the rest of this article »

Reunions, Reminiscence & Reflection: Stories to Tell

May 1st, 2008 by Margit Novack

Last week I gazed at photos from my fortieth high school reunion. Some people looked exactly the same, but most had changed. Some were thinner, some were heavier, many were gray-haired. I spent the most time looking at pictures of the girls I had placed on pedestals during high school—the pretty, the popular, the thin. I was so hard on myself then. Sometime during the past forty years I came to accept who I am—the good and the bad—and...Read the rest of this article »

Lessons I Learned after My Father’s Death

December 26th, 2007 by Suzanne Wolfson

Even after thirty years in the financial planning industry, I am constantly learning and gaining new professional experience. This time, however, the experience came from the recent, painful loss of my dad. His passing came after nine years of his living in elder care facilities and his slow deterioration, which included dementia, the loss of his senses, his ability to perform the activities of daily living and more. As I learned with my father’s death, no matter how prepared...Read the rest of this article »

The Importance of Being Mothered

December 19th, 2007 by Margit Novack

I often think back to the last time I was mothered by my mother. It was thirty-two years ago, and I was twenty-five years old. My mother had been hospitalized for over eight months with a condition that today would be handled on an outpatient basis, but this was before outpatient IV therapy was in practice. This would not have changed the outcome of her illness, however; we knew from the outset that time was limited. For months I...Read the rest of this article »

Pookie & Bubbie

October 24th, 2007 by Margit Novack

When my husband was growing up, his family had a series of songbirds, canaries and parakeets, each of whom was named Pookie. So it seemed only natural that the green-and-yellow parakeet we acquired would be dubbed Pookie as well. Pookie didn’t strike me as a very exciting pet. He didn’t sing, he didn’t talk—he didn’t do much of anything. That is, except when my mother-in-law, Bubbie, would visit. Having nurtured the entire Pookie dynasty, Bubbie knew ways of talking...Read the rest of this article »

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