This stretch of months, this time, this moment right now is the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s taken five years to get here. I’ve crossed, separately, and together with Sam, some dark canyons since 2013. We left D.C. five years ago with the intention of reinventing ourselves. Yes, for a final act. When you start […]
Greetings, loyal readers. It is time that I stop procrastinating and start with the most ambitious makeover of the Gap Year After 60 era. It is time that I become a self-promoter. At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life is in production with my publisher, Hachette / Grand Central Life & Style. […]
It turns out that I am suffering from my first episode of the Impostor Syndrome. Mighty uncomfortable it is, too. I suppose that I felt “impostorish” to some degree on my first day of my medical internship, but I don’t have a clear recollection. Certainly, there were many other emotions and concerns to crowd out […]
The singular goal of our original Gap Year was to figure out how to reinvent ourselves, as a couple and as individuals. The big questions: where would we live, how would we remain productive, what would our respective “work” be, when and where would we travel? Twenty-three months have passed and we’re still figuring it out. […]
I’ve procrastinated, painfully, on this blog post. Here’s what happened. For the past several years I have selected three words as guides for what I want to accomplish and how I want to change in the new year. It’s a way of setting goals that I stole from several well-known bloggers (see here and here if […]
The genesis of our gap year goes back 15 years. Sam and I were having lunch in a restaurant in Washington DC near the big, rambling house in which we raised our three children. It was a Saturday afternoon in April 1998. We were talking vaguely about what our future might look like and whether […]
Sam has been writing a lot about measurable sign posts as our Gap Year progresses, week by week. In fact, he’s been writing a lot. Much more than I have. I’m going to chalk that up to the eagerness of a first-time blogger. I’ve been blogging for a decade and I’ve developed some bad habits. […]
I went to my first Nats game this week. I had never been to a game in DC’s gleaming new stadium. It was a perfect night for baseball. Warm but not humid. Not a cloud in the sky. And on June 21, 2013, the longest day of the year. Our seats were spectacular (thank you […]
Now this is a bit of a surprise. Sam is two weeks into our Gap Year and apparently enjoying his freedom. He has the normal worries (logistics of packing and travel) but he doesn’t seem particularly anxious about his yet-to-be-made-up future. I, on the other hand, am feeling confused and discombobulated, set adrift. I seem […]
