Author Archives: Karen Everett Watson

About Karen Everett Watson

Karen Everett Watson is a gerontologist and a freelance blogger/journalist. Her parents, grown children and 10 grandchildren keep her busy learning about life while living in the Sacramento Valley with her chickens and dogs.

Just an Every Day Hero – My Daddy

Karen and her dad

Being a hero is not just for those who do one heroic deed, they are for people like my daddy who was a hero every day of his life. He’s always been my hero. From my earliest memories, no one would dare compare to him. When I was very small, he worked three jobs to […]

Sharing Your Passions and Living Legacies

Sewing

I don’t have any amazing talents to hand down to my children and grandchildren. That’s okay. I still have passions that I just love to share. How about you? From one generation to the next, it used to be a given that the mama would teach her daughter to cook and sew. The daddy would […]

Making the Most of Every Part of the Day

Day

Timing is everything when it comes to life. We need to be aware of our own optimal timing as well as what timing suits our older loved one. We also have to be flexible both with ourselves and with our seniors. Are you a morning person? Or do you like to sleep late and be […]

Loved One in the Hospital? – Don’t Leave Them Alone!

Hospital

My mama always told me, “You never leave someone in the hospital without being there.” That advice rang true when I heard from a friend how her husband was treated after surgery. It’s not the only time I’ve heard horror stories about what was done while the family was away. Forcing Hospitals to Be Accountable […]

Putting Off the Big Move

For over thirty years, my parents have been the proud owners of a two-acre homestead. They bought it in their 50s when they were still able to tackle almost anything. Now in their 80s the story is quite different. Are your parents getting to an age where taking care of their home has become too […]

Who Is Your Neighbor When Your Weeds Are Sky High?

Weeds

When your front yard is nothing but weeds as high as your head and you have two riding mowers that won’t run, and your arthritis is killing you, what do you do? I know my neighbors must really love me at this point! It’s rotten to have the worst looking yard on a country block, […]

Silly Songs And Cowboy Ballads

Sing

Music is something we carry with us, whether or not we’re actually hearing it at that moment. I think the songs of our youth are the ones that last throughout our lifetimes. They are for me, especially if you sing, “There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.” My daddy can’t actually carry a […]

Need Some Therapy? Perhaps Dirt Is the Answer!

Veggie Patch

There are loads of senior therapies and all of them do wonders for so many. My favorite therapy involves dirt. There’s just something that happens when I get my hands dirty and watch the daily endeavors of my little plants. This time of year I just pulled outside to begin my garden. It’s not an […]

Remembering Spring

You only have to spend a few moments on social media to see how all of us love looking back at our childhood and young adulthood. So much like springtime, life was new and almost everything was a first in our lives. Somehow the newness of life leaves a lasting impression on all of us. […]