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Oct 15, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Johanna Wald |Diana Raab |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Phil Perkins
In the midst of life’s challenges, it can be helpful to find a simple pleasure to nurture relaxation and peace. Writer Johanna Wald found hers in “the first sip.”In early 2021, I was 64 years old, frantically trying to nab Covid vaccine appointments for myself, my husband, and my daughter, and approaching the first anniversary of lockdowns, masks, social distancing and Zoom calls.
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Oct 8, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Diana Raab |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Phil Perkins |Stephen Nelson
Storytelling nurtures hope and perspective, honors the present, acknowledges the past, and looks to the future, writes psychologist and author Diana Raab. She presents the Hawaiian tradition of Ka’ao and offers ideas for developing storytelling skills. “There’s no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” ~ Maya AngelouStorytelling dates back to the beginning of time. Its purpose is to share stories that unite human beings.
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May 14, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Karen Czuleger Strgacich |Roger Ryberg |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Annie Tobey
“My thoughts go everywhere I go and there is no hiding from them,” writes Karen Czuleger Strgacich, expressing a sentiment that many of us can relate to. In fact, many of her thoughts are unique to other Boomers. Read her attempts to escape and her triumphs. Ever have those times when you feel like you just can’t run away from yourself? I’m having that kind of week! I am plagued with the proverbial “monkey on my back” feelings.
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May 7, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Roger Ryberg |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |John Sullivan |Annie Tobey
Boomer reader Roger Ryberg tells another “Likely Story,” this time about his experience on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. I’m a big guy. I drive a big truck. I dream big dreams, and that’s a big deal, but some things can make me feel small in the blink of an eye. That would include the Northern Lights, red cliffs of Moab, and stars so close you could pluck them from the sky. (But don’t. They’re still hot!). Also high on that list is Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship “Independence of The Seas”.
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May 6, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Sherrill Pool Elizondo |John Sullivan |Roger Ryberg |Annie Tobey
Colin M. Kelly, a retired engineer, writer, and grateful son, pays tribute to his parents, Ann Marie and Paul V. Kelly, who managed to raise nine children in the 1950s and ’60s. His mother and father were, he says, “nine for nine.”“Nine for Nine” is a phrase you don’t hear that often, maybe on a basketball court, never in a casino or at a baseball game. It’s a phase that immediately makes one think of perfection, something hard to achieve, a rare event.
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Apr 26, 2024 | 
boomermagazine.com | Sherrill Pool Elizondo |John Sullivan |Roger Ryberg |Annie Tobey
Strangers occasionally catch our attention, and we wonder about their stories. One such couple caught the eye of writer Sherrill Pool Elizondo, who still recalls their love in Santa Cruz. Sometimes one is fortunate to be able to observe meaningful exchanges between strangers that can bring a smile to one’s face. Such an occurrence happened to me during a trip to Santa Cruz a few years ago.
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Dec 6, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Colin Kelly |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Nick Thomas |Wesley Shennan
Colin M. Kelly’s mother whispered, “Can you keep a secret?” She had a smile of pride and confidence, devoid of worry and stress. Kelly shares the story of that holiday night, of what her secret meant then – and later. It was in the late 70’s, I was still in college, in the middle of my sophomore year. At this point in my life I was struggling to balance study time with social time and the ever-pressing work time needed to pay for college.
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Jul 5, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Wesley Shennan |Doreen Mary Frick |Phil Perkins |Sherrill Pool Elizondo
Tragedies can impact families across generations. Wesley Shennan tells of the aunt he never got to meet and of the residential school system that took her from her family. (Originally published in Canada’s History Magazine, May, 2023, used with author’s permission.)This is a photograph of my grandparents, Solomon and Lottie Callihoo, and their children, Charlie, Christina, and Camilla. It was taken in the 1920s on the Michel Indian Reserve northwest of Edmonton.
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Jun 27, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Doreen Mary Frick |Phil Perkins |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Lisa Olivier
Stories hold power, and writing translates those stories and power to others. Boomer reader Doreen Mary Frick shares some insights into the process of writing, from three-by-five cards to advice from the professionals.
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Jun 21, 2023 | 
boomermagazine.com | Phil Perkins |Sherrill Pool Elizondo |Lisa Olivier |Rod Martinez
A decades-old incident points to an issue that seems almost ageless: wielding guns for honor. Phil Perkins shares this story from his youth, not as a partisan point of view but simply his own. Do you think all of the recent talk about gun control is an indication that guns are more readily available than ever before in the US. Maybe so, but not by my recollection. You see, I’m from a small hardscrabble railroad and steel town in Ohio called Portsmouth.
