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Not Yet Ready for Shady Pines

Jan 09, 2013
by Caroline Miller
Robert Epstein, Yet Another Stage of Life?
2 Comments

Not long ago, I had coffee with a former student — a darling, talented woman of late middle age whom I am delighted to have in my life. In a way, we’ve watched each other grow and so there’s a comfortable history between us. Nonetheless, I was taken aback when I told her I was considering selling my house and her suggestion was that I look into an assisted living facility with its full range of care.

 Frankly, till that moment, I’d been thinking of moving to Palm Springs and buying a bikini.

 Her remark came to mind again this afternoon as I read an essay by Robert Epstein in Scientific Mind . The writer was expressing his concern about the number labels we pin on the young to prevent them from taking their place as adults in our society. (“Yet Another Stage of Life?” by Robert Epstein, Scientific Mind, Jan/Feb. 2012,Pgs. 18-19) As if “adolescence” weren’t sufficient, for some reason we’ve added “young adult,” he complains. And now there’ s a new term, “emerging adults.” It references young people who, forced by a poor economy, continue to live with their parents. All this labeling can’t be good, Epstein worries.

 I wish I could sympathize with the author, but frankly, I take a different view. Why should the young get to slow down the hand of time and not those of us on the downhill side of life? Why aren’t there more stages between being grown-up and being old? I think people in their 40s and 50s ought to be thought of as “early mature.” Then those of us between 60-70 could call ourselves “middle mature.” People in their 80s and 90s, might be labeled “fully mature.” And those who’ve reached 90 and beyond, having successfully cheated death for so long, should be revered as “cleverly mature.” Yeah, that works for me.

elderlyhaving fun

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of welcomehomedesmoines.com) 

 

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2 Comments
  1. Pete January 9, 2013 at 11:50 am Reply
    Towards the end of the 19th century, when Monticelli was asked at the close of his life why his painting technique was so strange, he said, "I paint for thirty years from now" ... So it is with today's seniors, who have an unprecedented chance to break free from a forced and misplaced identification with the past only, and who now are able to create for the future, beyond nostalgia, alive in an as yet unwritten history ...
    • Caroline Miller January 9, 2013 at 3:41 pm Reply
      I couldn't have agreed with this observation any more than if I wrote it. Thank you for sharing.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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