All Blog Posts Tagged 'life' (67)

Recycling

If only I'd kept my clothes from the seventies, my kids' toys from their early days, the furniture from my first apartment. Everything seems to come back into vogue, and I can't help but think I could have made a fortune on Ebay. I saw a skirt in a store last week that is almost identical to one I used to own. Star Wars, He-Man and Barbie stuff goes for pretty pennies, and all those goofy things I threw in the trash call to me now, "We're collectors' items, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Plots… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 22, 2008 at 9:16pm — No Comments

Old Dogs & New Tricks

Current wisdom says that we must keep learning or lose brain power. Where a few years ago they were teaching that the aging brain was like cement, hardening to unchangable, now advisers recommend learning new things to fend off the zombie-like conditions we see in nursing homes. It isn't enough to learn to play golf better; you have to learn to play something altogether new. At a time when a lot of us have the leisure to do the things we like, we're supposed to leave our comfort zones and tread… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 18, 2008 at 8:44pm — No Comments

Choosing the Day You Die

You don't get to; at least most of us don't. There's no "off" switch that you can hit when you've had enough. Juliet says "If all else fail, myself have power to die," and she means it. Most of us are more Hamlet than Juliet, and "conscience does make cowards of us all."

Aging is a process of accepting what you can't do and what you will accept as you wait for the end of life. How much does your knee or hip or shoulder have to hurt before you let someone slice it open and replace… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 8, 2008 at 10:18pm — No Comments

Burying Your Head in the Novel

My dad used to comment from time to time, not always fondly, that there was no talking to me when I had my nose in a book. I think my husband would alter the statement these days: there's no talking to me when I have my nose in WRITING a book. When things start to click I disappear into my office and pay no attention to what anyone else is doing. I bring pages of editing to the breakfast table, unable to delay the process until after cereal. In the passenger seat when we travel I work on grids… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 4, 2008 at 9:53pm — No Comments

The Young vs the Old

I'm not sure when I began thinking of myself as old. Retirement certainly contributes, and people asking what it's like in that tone of "You're done being useful, so what do you do now to occupy the time until you die?" Salespeople calling me "ma'am" instead of "miss" was a big clue. And a group of elementary school kids I worked with recently pronounced me Grandma, even though I haven't yet earned that title. So yeah, I guess I'm in the "old" category if we're choosing up… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 2, 2008 at 10:55pm — No Comments

Writers Get No Holiday

I can tell that some people consider my lifestyle with envy. I can work when I want, where I want, and in my slippers. I stop for a break when I choose, not when the clock or a buzzer or someone in authority says I can. I gotta tell you, after thirty years of responding to bells every hour or so, it's great.

The other side of that coin, however, is that my brain is a harder taskmaster than most bosses. It doesn't allow for breaks when the ideas are flowing, which means a sore back at… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 1, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

The Concept of Time

I think it was Einstein who began this whole "time is bendable" thing, but maturity confirms it. What used to be a year feels more like seven months these days, and what used to be a 16-hour day feels like nine-and-a-half hours.

Every night before bed, I tell myself that in the morning I'll write for X number of hours. I plan carefully, carving a block of time out of all the other stuff that's going on. When my nine-and-a-half hours arrives, though, the block becomes a brick and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 29, 2008 at 11:06pm — No Comments