Elder Journey 2005 Archives

2005 Archive

January 14 & 22 RESOLUTIONS

"I resolve to be more timely in announcing topics for the Elder Journey meetings."

Like all-too-many New Year's Resolutions, this one is broken almost before it is made. So let me amend it:

"Starting in February, I resolve to be more timely in announcing topics for the Elder Journey meetings."

For now, all I can say is that if you are real gung-ho and are reading this Bulletin when it first comes out, you are still in time to attend the Elder Journey meeting on Tuesday, January 11 at 4 pm in the Fireside Room. Darcey will lead our discussion for the last time before she starts her Sabbatical. Under the heading of New Year's Resolutions, she will ask us questions such as, "Are there any changes you are hoping to make in this coming year? Can you remember a significant change you chose to make in your own? What was the least successful resolution you ever made?"

For the next several months Amy will lead our meetings, starting on January 25, with a topic still to be announced.

February. 8 LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU

First question: Out or In

* Did you, do you, like to go out to theater, opera, movies, spectator sports?
* Or are you too limited by the hassle of driving, by fading hearing or eyesight, by too-frequent calls of nature?

So, if you can't go out for your entertainment, what do you do in the privacy and convenience of your own home or apartment?

*   Read books, plays, poetry, magazines, newspapers?
*   Watch programmed TV, tapes, DVDs?
*   Listen to programmed radio, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, iPOD?
*   Get on the computer to play games, surf the web, search out naughty sites? No! Cancel that last one; it's none of my business.

Then there's the question of where do you get your books, DVD's, etc.

*   Do you already own most of them?
*   Do you buy them? From whom? How?
*   Do you rent them? What are your sources?
*   Do you use public libraries? Are there other free sources?

One last question:

* If you had to give up all media except one, which one would you keep?

There. That should keep us busy for an hour. Let's get together at 4 pm on Tuesday, February 8 in the Fireside Room and share some ideas about all this.

February. 22 DYSLECTIC DOG

Amy writes: The topic for Feb 22 is a very small one: GOD. What does the word ‘God ’ mean to you? We ’ll sort out what meanings of the word do and don ’t work for us.”

It ’s hard to get much of an argument going among UU ’s on such subjects as politics, social justice, freedom, etc. But I bet we ’re going to hear a lot of different opinions on this particular arrangement of the fourth, seventh, and fifteenth letters of the alphabet. Care to add your two-cents worth in the Fireside Room at 4 pm on Tuesday, February 22?

March 8 GRATITUDE

Please accept my attitude
And offer me some latitude
To say (it's not a platitude)
That I am filled with gratitude

On Tuesday, March 8 Hurd Twombly will lead the Elder Journey in a discussion of "gratitude". What are you grateful for? How do you express that gratitude? How do you respond when someone is grateful to you?

These are just a few of the questions we might consider. Join us for a relaxed hour of discussion.

March 22 ELDER HOSTEL

Elderhostel is the world's first and largest education and travel organization for adults 55 and over. Founded in 1975, Elderhostel is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. In the past 30 years the organization has gone through many changes. Jeri Foley, an Elderhostel Ambassador and gerontologist, will be in Elder Journey on March 22 to discuss the history and the changes that have taken place through the years.

In addition to her volunteer work for Elderhostel, Ms.Foley was the first director of the Mountain View Senior Center, director of Menlo Park's Little House, and assistant administrator of The Sequoias, Portola Valley and San Francisco.

Amy will facilitate, and the hour should be extremely educational and interesting--just like Elderhostel itself!

April 12 WRITERS FROM AAUW

Misao Sakamoto, who will lead the April 12 meeting of Elder Journey, is also active in the Writer's Section of the Palo Alto Branch of the American Association of University Women. She has invited two other members of the Section to join her in reading selections from their writings.

Marcia Baugh, chair of the Writer's Section, will read a piece from her story; Charlotte Nasr and Misao Sakamoto will each share a part of their family histories. Each writer will read for about 15 minutes. There should be time at the end for members of Elder Journey to comment or question the authors about their work or about the activities of the Section.

April 26 ELDER REFRIGERATOR BITES

No, I don't mean that my refrigerator has acquired a set of teeth in its old age. Nor do I refer to biting those luscious goodies inside the refrigerator - the quarter BLT sandwich, the leftover carrot sticks, the one remaining hard boiled egg, that last slice of apple pie. Rather, I am referring to those bites of wisdom magnetized to the outside of the refrigerator. You know, pithy sayings such as "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we diet;" "Don't put off to tomorrow what you can put off to the day after;" "Ask not for whom the Belle toils; she toils for thee"

Bring your favorite short quote to our Elder Journey meeting on Tuesday, April 26, 3:45, Fireside Room, whether it's from your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, your car's bumper sticker, or the closing words on your emails. We'll share them, discuss them, analyze them, parse them, dissect them, . . . whatever. It should be a fun session and a pleasant contrast to the recent ides of April.

May 10 MOMMY, WHERE DID I COME FROM?

Unless you are part Native-American, all of your ancestral lines came from some other country. We will explore this issue at our meeting on Tuesday, May 10.

Pick one particular immigrant and come prepared to tell us about him/her/them. Do you trace back to the Mayflower or to Jamestown? Or were your parents (or even yourself) immigrants? Where and when and why did that ancestor leave home to come here? Where and why the particular "here". How was life changed by the move? . . . . ?

Come prepared to tell your story in not more than 5 minutes. I will be in charge for this meeting, and I warn you that I am a mean man with a stopwatch. It will be fun to compare stories, so I hope each of you will have a good one.

Sepember. 27 ? ? ? Q U E S T I O N S ? ? ?

"What am I wanting to know, to learn more about at this time in my life."

Admittedly, this is a sneaky way of generating topics for the year. Which is good. So come with your ideas. What do YOU want to know? Housing options? transportation possibilities? senior discount bargains? health plans? coping with loss? getting along with your adult children (and grandchildren)? political clout? what can Elders contribute? Etc.? Etc.?

Or are you more interested in continuing the relaxed social atmosphere of the summer? Should we alternate serious sessions and social sessions? Should each session be a mix of the two?

After the meeting on the fourth Tuesday of September we'll be in better position to talk about the rest of our Fall Program. Watch this space for exciting future details.

October. 11 LETTING GO

There are descriptive labels for your stage in life. When first born, you were an Infant. Then you became Child, Teenager, Young Adult, Adult, Middle-aged. Now you are Elder. There are more labels, of course, and the boundaries are amorphous. But you progress from one stage to another, and the label depends only on YOU.

There are also labels for your relationships. You are Child to your Parent, Sibling to your Sibling, Niece/Nephew to your Uncle/Aunt, and Parent to your Child. Forever.

But there's a funny thing about the word Child. It is both a life-stage and in a relationship. Sue is MY Child, but she is no longer A Child. In fact, she's within a few years of become an Elder and has Children who are Adults!

The relationship label doesn't change, but the relationship, itself, does; drastically. It may even reverse! When I was a Child my Parents decided where I would live (i. e. which room in the house contained my bed and toys) and gave me an allowance. When she was in her final years my Sister and I decided where our Mother would live (i. e. what nursing home to move her to) and managed her finances.

On Tuesday, October 11 at 3:45 pm in the Fireside Room Elder Journey will discuss how one lets go as is appropriate for grown Adults, when they're still one's Children and the pull of being a Parent is still strong. Lucy Tyler will facilitate the discussion on parenting adults.

Come and tell us how you have coped or are coping with the problem.

October. 25 ELDER JOURNEY SET TO MUSIC

Usually we just do words. But on Tuesday, October 25 at 3:45 pm in the Fireside Room we will break new ground. Amy will facilitate and her topic is:

"Music, music, music . . .

"What's the most meaningful music in your life? We'll all listen and enter each other's musical worlds. Bring a tape or CD to play (if it's longer than 4 minutes, we can play an excerpt; if it's short, we'll play the whole song) and share with everyone why this music is important to you."

Amy will provide a player for either tape or CD. I don't know about DVD; better check. There's also a piano in the Fireside Room for those who don't believe in electronic sound. So come one, come all, and we will make beautiful music together.

November 8 GRIEF AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Do you have a question about Grief? What is the normal course of Grief? What if its course is not normal? Is there a relation between Grief and Guilt? How does one handle Unfinished Business? How does one minimize having Unfinished Business?

Darcey will lead the Elder Journey in a discussion of Grief and Unfinished Business. Bring your questions. Do you have any answers? Bring them too. We are all friends and will share and comfort in our Grief, be it past, present, or future.

November 22 THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving or thanks giving. Take your choice. Tell us what this particular holiday means and has meant to you and your family. Or tell us about what things you give thanks for this year. Either way we'll have a relaxed "feel good" session two days before the official holiday. Jean Nelson will be our facilitator.

December 13 MOST MEMORABLE/UNUSUAL TEACHER

My children were in school when the "new math" came into vogue. Based on their dinner-table conversation (that sounds a bit quaint, doesn't it? - - a dinner table conversation with one's teen-age children!), answers to new math questions changed over the grades. In Junior High the teacher always had the right answer; with Sophomores whoever shouted loudest had it right; the Seniors voted to decide which answer was right.

But that's about my kid's teachers. Who was YOUR most memorable teacher? Was it the preschool teacher who comforted you when you spilled your glass of juice? The teacher in first grade who taught you how to read? A teacher in religious school who helped you see that you were not the center of the universe? Or maybe it was later, in high school or college. The English teacher who opened your mind to the beauty in the English language? The science teacher who showed you the thrill of discovery? The choir master who showed you that in music the whole may be greater than the sum of its parts? Or the phys. ed. teacher who helped you see that even though you couldn't make the varsity team, you weren't an absolute klutz despite what your grade school gym teacher had told you? And some of us went on the graduate school. Did your thesis advisor inspire you? Did you take a class from a Nobel Prize winner who let you share the excitement of being the very best in a particular field?

Enough questions? Come to the Elder Journey meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Give your own answers and see if you resonate with anything someone else has to say. The Rev. Amy will lead the discussion.

December 27 JOYOUS OCCASIONS

My father was in the Army in World War I. It was general policy that when troops were not engaged in actual battle, leave was granted to attend services on religious holidays. He said that it was surprising how many Rosenblooms and Levys were Catholics on Easter Sunday - and all the O'Learys and Flanagans who wanted time off for Passover.

Many of us have happy memories of Christmases past, when we were young - when our children were young. Let's share them. But suppose Christmas was not part of your background? Well, then, bring another happy memory. An alternative religious holiday? Your eighteenth birthday party? Your first child's first birthday party? The day you won a prize for oratory or piano or wrestling? Down with "Bah, humbug"! Come to the Elder Journey meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 27. Come and be Joyous.
Mona Miller will be our facilitator.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto