There are times when I stand under a chuppah to officiate at a wedding that a wave of melancholy washes over me — a feeling quite out of place when surrounded by lilies and lace. The ceremony is so hopeful and beautiful. But I can\’t help but be reminded that the future is unscripted and there are so many troublesome variables.
If you meet Grace Quinn sunning herself on the patio of her home at Westwood Horizons Retirement Residence or pushing her bright red walker in Trader Joe\’s, you wouldn\’t guess that this nonagenarian is one of the founders of Levitt & Quinn Family Law Center.
I don\’t know about how others think about gift giving, but I am honestly confused about it myself. Year after year, questions continue to gnaw at me like: What is the right amount for a gift? Should I support Jewish organizations first and then donate to other charities, like my alma mater or the Red Cross, only after I have made my Jewish gifts?
In order to have a successful marriage you have to make yourself an expert in communication. You have to try to understand what your partner is saying on a simple level as well as try to analyze the underlying message or desire.
The fast-emerging religious left contrasts sharply on many issues — from homosexual marriage to socialized medicine — with its longer-established competitor, the religious right. Yet these two Bible-citing political movements equally have woken up to the realization that there is something intrinsically American about using the Bible as a guide to practical politics. That\’s good news and a blow to secularist orthodoxy.
I began my career in journalism at The Jerusalem Post, then the only English-language newspaper in Israel. It wasn\’t a Jewish newspaper per se; more than covering \”Jewish news,\” its mission was to cover Israel as a country, and that included arts, business, science and technology, politics and crime — which most often turned out to be Jewish.
Too often, we become discouraged from pursuing our dreams because of the opposition we face. We assess our chances of success based on the strength of our competitors or enemies. If we would only focus more on our own passions and ambitions, on our own strength of conviction, we would get much farther in life. A very successful person once told me, \”I\’ve never worried about the competition; the only person I\’m competing with is myself, to see if I can rise to my potential.\”
Like many baby-boomers today, I sometimes feel older than Keith Richards up a palm tree. So when Irv and Eddie, my better elders, invite me to go out with them, I tag along, if only to combat creepy self-pity.
No matter where you are in the menopause transition, it\’s never too late (or early) to get your health act together to ensure the next 40 or so years are as terrific as or better than the first were. Here are 10 things you can do right now.
Susie Tiffany of Beverly Hills suffers from a rare blood disorder and needs monthly infusions of blood components, which her insurance company ultimately declined to cover. She hoped the government\’s new prescription drug benefit would help her out because, despite her ZIP code, she\’s a low-income senior. But the possibilities, were baffling: an array of private insurance plans that covered different things, explanations on the Internet that included terms she never had to know before, additional complexities depending on a person\’s income and a confusing interplay of state and federal agencies. However, Tiffany was able to find assistance in her case from Jewish Family Service. A social worker helped get Tiffany\’s treatment covered by new state funds intended to help seniors with the transition to the new federal system.
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