I have two beautiful, colorful maps on my study wall. I love them. The only problem is that they are wrong. They were drawn according to the best cartographic...
Aging
My mom rose at 4:30 a.m. each day to start the laundry. With seven kids, born within a span of 10 years, her days were full with cooking, cleaning, and...
When I first started going to my parish about four years ago one of the things I was looking for, other than a schedule of Masses in English (I live in a...
Generational conflict has been a conceit in American pop culture since at least the Patty Duke Show, but rarely has it seemed closer to open combat than lately...
The taxi driver asked God’s blessings on me as we pulled into the departures lane at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. I was traveling to a small Midwest town to teach...
I stared at a bus schedule. To visit a friend out of town in New York, I’d usually ride the 7:30 and arrive early afternoon, in time for us to walk through the...
“When did everybody else get so old?” asks Jennifer Grant in her new book of the same title (Herald Press), a memoir that explores the physical, emotional, and...
Sixty-nine-year-old John Eckford is always ready to welcome a guest to his one-bedroom apartment. On the table next to his front door are displayed two small...
Earlier this week I impulsively phoned Polly, a kind-hearted, no-nonsense woman old enough to be mother. Except at church, I hadn’t talked with her since...
A life sentence takes on new meaning for prisoners serving time well into their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s. Hearing loss and dementia make it difficult for...
