When we created The Art of Elderhood course, my dear friend Paul Browde said something that has stayed with me deeply. He observed that in relationships, we often forget. We forget the miracle of the person sitting across from us. We forget their preciousness. We...
“If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me because I would like to hear it again.” I love that quote from Groucho Marx. People sometimes apologize for telling a story more than once. They assume that if a story has already been told, it...
People sometimes smile when they hear me say that I had thirty husbands. The truth is, I only had one husband. His name was Yumi. And over the course of our life together, I came to realize that I had loved many different versions of him. Every time Yumi grew,...
Recently, I was reflecting on a concept from Martin Buber that has become increasingly important to me throughout my life. There are two ways we can meet another person. We can meet them as an “it.” Or we can meet them as a “thou.” At first,...
Many years ago, I was working with a couple who could not seem to land with one another. The man lived primarily in his thoughts. The woman lived primarily in her feelings. They loved each other, but whenever they tried to connect, they seemed to miss each...
