By Lois Requist The World Health Organization has a vision which is to “facilitate the inclusion of older persons to make our world more age-friendly.” The organization believes “An age-friendly world enables people of all ages to actively participate in community activities and treats everyone with respect, regardless of their age.” So what does […]
Voice of the Village: What is the best time of life?
By Lois Requist When I was a kid, older people often told me that I was experiencing the best time of my life, so I should enjoy it. Even then, some part of me wanted to respond, “Really? This is as good as it gets?” What was my life then? We were poor, and unlike […]
Voice of the Village: How’s your relationship with your grandchildren?
By Lois Requist I’ve always gotten a kick out of Judith Martin, who writes the Miss Manners column in many newspapers. I like her common sense. Recently, a mother wrote to Miss Manners, saying that her parents had moved across the country to be near their daughter and her family. The mother said she had […]
Voice of the Village: My friend has Alzheimer’s
By Lois Requist People sometimes say things like, “Growing old isn’t for sissies,” or “It’s all downhill from here,” or some other such remarks, none of which I agree with, but, as we’ve talked about here before, our culture tends to glorify the young, the perfect, while not speaking highly of its elders. People say […]
Voice of the Village: Do you want the rest of your life to be better?
By Lois Requist I continue to learn from my friend Judie Donaldson, as I did with her column last week about attitude adjustment and what older people prefer to be called. Because there has been so much negativity around growing older, it may be that a phrase everyone likes hasn’t been invented yet. Village Movement […]
Voice of the Village: Why we are celebrating
By Lois Requist Maybe you’ve seen the announcement about our first birthday celebration this month, on the 25th at Benicia Yacht Club from 3 to 4:30. I hope you come! Since the creation of Carquinez Village took a significant chunk of my time since January, 2015, indulge me in remembrance. A friend of mine said, […]
Voice of the Village: Memories are Made of What?
By Lois Requist As I look at a photo I have in my hand, I turn it over and on the back is written Christmas, December 25, 1900, followed by a list of some the nine people standing outside in front of a building with two pillars forming a porch. In black and white, of […]
Voice of the Village: Planning on a rocking chair in retirement? Think again
By Lois Requist Just when you thought it was your turn to sit down and rest, the studies pour in saying it isn’t good to sit! Someone said, “Sitting is the new smoking!” (Something we shouldn’t do—at least not too much.) A study by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and published […]
Voice of the Village: Growing older keeps changing
By Lois Requist It’s probably not surprising that the village movement began 17 years ago, started by some women in Boston who realized that as they aged, they needed a support system to make living at home possible, practical, and even joyous. The senior population is growing at a rate of 10,000 per day in […]
Voice of the Village: What does it mean to be old?
By Lois Requist So many jokes and stories are told about old people and women—blondes in particular—that even if you’re old and/or blonde, you may buy into the assumptions that are made about you. Of course, racial stereotypes have been in our society longer than we have and getting rid of them isn’t easy. We […]