by Marlene Bumgarner | Nov 9, 2015 | Community, England, Family, Grandparenting
“Grandma, tell me something sad from when you were a little girl.” Four (“and a half”) year old Bean is sitting behind me in the car, eating her snack and looking at the ocean beside the highway. I made a decision when I began driving her...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 19, 2015 | Aging, Community, Family
What I’m Reading This Week I’ve been thinking about the role of grandparents in our 21st century society, and this book was recommended to me as one which proposes some actions that “America’s Most Audacious Generation” might take to lead...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Oct 12, 2015 | Aging, Community, Family
I went to my 50th high school reunion last weekend. For many people, the decision whether or not to go to their class reunion is excruciating. But I went and survived, and I’m alive and well to tell my story. And my message is this: You Should Go Even if...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Sep 21, 2015 | Aging, Community, Family, Grandparenting
A Simple Solution or a Big Mistake? I’ve been in Seattle for a week helping a friend move into a cosy basement apartment in his daughter’s home. Recently, several of my friends have moved in with their adult children. Others have invited their sons and...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Aug 31, 2015 | Community, Family, Grandparenting, Technology
Hearing Loss in the Silent Generation: Even without Ear Buds Hearing loss was part of my childhood. Both my parents lost their hearing in their 40s. My mother’s early dependence on hearing aids was attributed to working in a laundry for twelve hours a day at...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Aug 11, 2015 | Aging, Community, Family, Grandparenting
Before I retired from teaching, I thought of Santa Cruz as a place to go for the day, but never as a place to live. Whenever the subject of Santa Cruz came up it seemed that someone would quip “That’s the town that’s still living in the 60s.”...