Calling someone an old soul says they’re wise before their time.
It has nothing to do with age. A child can be an old soul. But if there’s One Big Thing that happened this year, it’s how the idea of being ‘old’ is changing and how quickly we should move to catch up to it.
Read on…
I got my first ‘holiday’ appeal for a donation this week. By the week before Jesus’ Birthday, our inboxes will be groaning with these appeals.
But I’ve always been puzzled by what cause doesn’t get support and has to practically beg to keep their doors open every year. Indeed, some shut their doors for lack of funds, never to open them again.
I’m speaking about women’s shelters, those temporary homes that women who are being abused flee to, often with their kids, to get away from their abusers on the long hard road to leading a ‘normal’ life again.
The lack of support for women’s shelters is puzzling for two reasons:
Read on…
I’ll be 74 next month, so I’m used to forgetting things like my best friend’s name, or my PIN number, or my glasses and keys, one of which I always eventually find on the top of my head. This is the slow, steady drip into decrepitude.
But what’s shocking is to do something you’ve done well all your life, and suddenly you can’t do it at all. This has happened three times this summer.
I used to sing well and was the “Head Choir Boy” in high school. But on July 1st, I tried to sing O Canada and could barely carry the tune. Instead of three octaves, my range was cut to what seemed like three notes, except as I later learned, in the shower where I’m still The Boss. Still, to suddenly not be able to carry a tune was a shock.
In June, I went skipping with the grandkids over the rocks at our cottage on Georgian Bay. I have to tell you I’m a great rock-walker, deftly leaping from one uneven surface to the next, and have been all my life. But suddenly, I got wobbly. These rocks weren’t a challenge; they were a deathtrap. We all know what happens when you’re old and ‘fall.’ I quickly retreated to the sandy shore.
Then last week, some friends asked me to join a beanbag-throwing game. The hole was 20 yards away and you just had to throw the bag into it. Mine never got near that hole. It splayed everywhere but. I’ve been great at ‘ball’ games all my life and beanbags should be no different. What was this fresh hell?
Meanwhile…
Diana Henriques was the New York Times reporter who broke the Bernie Madoff story, the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. She said Madoff was different from even the most sophisticated con artist who would try to convince you they were the smartest person in the room. Madoff convinced you that you were the smartest in the room.
It seems Toronto has its own Bernie Madoff. Albert Rosenberg conned wives, banks, investors and the world for years. CBC Gem has a wonderful hour-long documentary on his story, written and directed by Barry Avrich. [CBC GEM is password-accessed but free]. Very worth watching, and a reminder that not all frauds are online.
Meanwhile, beyond the watering holes of Yorkville…
Last week I visited my two half-brothers. Both have dementia and live in long-term care, one in the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Wing in Toronto (he served
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