after 60 nothing is free

Husbands and crutches

I just hobbled to my desk, hugging two crutches under my left arm so I could carry a mug of hot tea in my right hand. I broke tiny bones in my foot and this is what I am reduced to. Fifteen years ago I badly sprained my ankle and had to commute to theContinue reading “Husbands and crutches”

Stories from the nursing home

I have to stop writing about the nursing home. People don’t want to read about them. Do they? I can’t promise this will be my last story from the nursing home, but I can’t resist. I have been visiting my aunt in a spacious, sunny, clean, pleasant, friendly place which would not, by the way,Continue reading “Stories from the nursing home”

Nothing's Free After Sixty

I was on the cover of a national magazine, eldr, in spring, 2008. (This excellent magazine has since stopped publication.) I am sitting back in the arms of an attractive man, and only a careful look reveals that I am wearing any clothes at all. The website, eldr.com, uses not only the cover photo, but photosContinue reading “Nothing's Free After Sixty”

Clinging to things

I love my back yard. I’ve lived here alone for almost four years now, and my mother lived here for 40 years before that. I work every day at my desk, which looks out over the tops of the rhododendrons outside my office window onto the grass, the mass of trees — I only knowContinue reading “Clinging to things”

Doing Nothing

I spent New Year’s Eve sitting cozily in bed reading a book, Saving Fish From Drowning, by Amy Tan. It was lovely. New Year’s Day I went to a Danish friend’s house to join her family for a Danish smorgasbord. That was lovely too. A year ago I would have been lonely, depressed. I feelContinue reading “Doing Nothing”

The harder they fall….

Celibacy corrupts. A man contacted me yesterday. He knew how to spell, which is alway a surprise on the internet, and was eloquent and amusing, cultured and clear. We wrote of our families, our careers, our travels, in a literate way. I was interested. I spent too much of my morning writing to him. IContinue reading “The harder they fall….”

Eulogy for Louis

I have finished two bottles of Tsingtao beer, turned on a CD of Stephan Grapelli and George Shearing, and danced around the living room with the lights out so people passing on the street couldn’t see me. I am dancing, mourning, over my beloved friend Louis, who died of a massive heart attack in August,Continue reading “Eulogy for Louis”

Love as Luxury

Is love a luxury? Last summer a man I liked “poof” disappeared, leaving me grumpy and sad, so I responded to a married man who wanted company at the theatre. He said he and his wife had drifted way, way apart, and they had renegotiated their marriage contract, meaning she had said she wouldn’t askContinue reading “Love as Luxury”

Dating Married Men: What Are the Rules?

Maybe the institution of marriage is failing. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, and many of the rest of them aren’t in good shape. The institution as a whole deserves re-thinking, and the rules surrounding it deserve re-thinking. Should I observe the conventional rules and avoid dating married men, or should I view eachContinue reading “Dating Married Men: What Are the Rules?”