Copious studies document that loneliness rates are highest among those who are college-age and seniors. That problem plagued Madeline Dangerfield-Cha and Joy Zhang, who connected as friends just before starting business school at Stanford a few years ago. Their early interests and experiences differed but meshed: Zhang had previously worked as a hospice volunteer, and Dangerfield-Cha in […]

Years ago, I used to carry around grudges for far too long. Those “chips” on my shoulders became “boulders” after time. In the end, carrying those grudges did nothing more than hurt me and poison relationships that would have been such a blessing to me. It’s easy to become so bitter that it taints everything […]

Caregivers have so much on their plates they really need a platter — and an extra waiter! If you’re like me and taking care of an aging parent or even perhaps two, your plate (or platter) is running over. Then you wonder why you are tired and stressed! The statistics say that most caregivers are […]

Updated April 2025 Don’t doubt for a moment that caregiving can take a lot out of you. If you don’t take care of yourself, your body might force you to give it up! It started a few months ago. Daddy got sick and then he got sicker. Mama was doing everything she could think of […]

My family has been dealing with my daddy’s illnesses for some time now. He’s been prone to kidney infections and the winter blahs for the past five winters. This year he’s really been down both mentally and physically. While he’s still sharp as a tack, he’s just downright blue and depressed over not being able […]

No one gets out alive. So it’s a particularly rich irony that so many people insist on denying death, planning for it, or even mentioning it. But that’s a topic for another time — and another website. The reality of death hits many people hardest when they lose a beloved pet. And try as they […]

It was a very long day yesterday. Daddy had been sick for a few days and even though I wanted to take him to the doctor days earlier, he and Mama had resisted. I should have put on my big girl pants and insisted but I’m still “the child.” Day 1 – Late evening… “Your […]

The day of Thanksgiving I came down with a bad head cold and a queasy stomach. It was a long bout with that bug and I’m still getting over some of the symptoms. I started drinking ginger ale for my stomach ailments along with a multi-purpose cold pill. After a few days I noticed my […]

Many of the nation’s 40 million family caregivers are caught in a bind made worse by state policies requiring them to work a number of hours in paid jobs every month to retain the insurance coverage provided by Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California. They simply cannot take time away from their caregiving duties to do […]