The Blewfield Clan

What a wonderful time post retirement seems to be for the cousins at the reunion in Paducah.   Everyone seems to be developing or focusing on genuine  interests.  And varied they are!

• Suzanne, who still works part-time in a law office  is submersed in the family genealogy and can trace her branch back to the Mayflower several times.  She is now writing a book about it.
• Bill, who is a retired professor and Fullbright Scholar, lives with poetry and has one of the best poetry resources, www.unf.edu/mudlark/
• Doreen complements working part-time as a mentor to student teachers with her passion for theater and acting on the local stage.
• Don “recycled” to become a pastor and acts as interim minister to congregations.  He also lives his passion as a cookie creator at the local bakery.
• Rose and David sold their house and now live in a motor home to experience new places across the nation.  Rose is a writer and David a photographer and using these passions.
• Gerard focuses on renewable energy and is sought out as an expert to speak and advise.   He also volunteers on clean water projects in Africa.
• Jeanie continues to nurse ailing birds, something that she has always done and is not ready to leave.  She loves what she does.

And this is just part of the cousins!

It is never too early or too late to develop your interests and passion.  It is an important aspect of personal age-esteem to love what you do.  It is a real elixir to building confidence and feeling vital.

When I told friends we were headed to “Paducah”, they thought it was an exotic island or a joke.

Actually it is neither.  Paducah, Kentucky is hometown to two cousins.  We were going there to meet up with the Blewfield clan of cousins.   As children growing up in the Midwest, we spent a week each year with cousins in LaPorte, Indiana.  We swam, boated, had hamburger eating contests, and played from dawn til dark.  It was a highlight of summer.

Now 60 years later we still look forward to being together. The Cousin’s Reunion has become a tradition with a different person taking on the organization every two years.

This year a conversation revolved around benefits of being older.  –  Especially living our passions, investing time in work and activities we truly love and that build our confidence and age-esteem.

• We feel vibant and involved in new ways.
• People seek us out.  Our strengths are recognized and sought after.
• We are involved in amazing activities that give meaning to our lives.
• We are more tolerant and understanding, no longer sweating the small stuff.
• Our lives have greater perspective.

AgeEsteem will become even more important with the current demographic  predicted to continue well into the coming centuries.

• One out of every ten persons is now 60 years or above; by 2050, one out of five will be 60 years or older; and by 2150, one out of three persons will be 60 years or older.
• The older population itself is ageing. The oldest old (80 years or older) is the fastest growing segment of the older population. They currently make up 13 percent of the 60+ age group and will grow to 20 percent by 2050.
• The number of centenarians (aged 100 years or older) is projected to increase 14-fold from approximately 265,000 in 2005 to 3.7 million by 2050.
• The majority of older persons (55 percent) are women. Among the oldest old, 64 percent are women.

Source: Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Secretariat

To read more:  United Nations Program on Aging

Salute to Dr. Norman Borlaug

During this week of celebrating older persons, I would like to honor Dr. Norman Borlaug, a man who has marked our world and inspired many though he has never sought praise.  I was privileged to serve on the Board of Legacy® with him.  Dr. Borlaug was a true AgeEsteemer.   Even in his nineties he worked for what he believed to be most important – feeding the world as a means to promote peace.

Dr. Borlaug, a scientist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize,  developed a type of wheat that is credited with saving up to 1 billion people from starvation.  He was known as the father of the “green revolution“, which many experts say averted global famine during the second half of the last century.  More on Dr. Borlaug

Many older people inspire us and lead us in new directions.

Who would you like to honor during this week of celebration?

“Ageing is a development issue. Healthy older persons are a resource for their families, their communities and the economy.”   WHO Brasilia declaration on healthy aging, 1996.

Older people  increasingly play a critical role – through volunteer work, transmitting experience and knowledge, helping their families with caring responsibilities and increasing their participation in the paid labor force.

This is the 10th anniversary of Older People’s Day being celebrated by the United Nations and many countries of the world.  Let us salute the older people who are doing so much to make this world a better place.

London to the rescue

British retirees in Spain (300,000) are having difficulty to make ends meet due to the drastic dive of the British pound sterling in relation to the euro.  Whereas they set up whole communities in Spain where they could live well on their British pensions, many are now barely surviving.   With the devaluation of the pound they find their purchasing power cut by one-fourth to one-third.   The housing market has also taken a dip and those who must sell to survive are finding it virtually impossible.  They also miss out on social aid for older people including special funds for heating and for health care

The British government is now taking measures to create an assistance package to alleviate the situation.

For those of us who live in large countries with one currency, this may seem odd.  It is as though each state had a different currency that could fluctuate.

The average age of a first time grandparent in North America today is 48.

With today’s life expectancy being  78 in North America, (as opposed to 81.5 in Iceland and 41 in Zimbabwe) many of us may have 30 years or more of grandparenting ahead of us.   So  the question of how we want to fill the role of grandparent becomes an important one.

This is especially true since as today’s grandparents we are likely to be more educated than previous generations and also be active, self-confident with age-esteem and more globally aware.  We still have places to see and dreams to live.  Grand-parenting is just one role among many.

Whether you are a grandparent,  parent or grandchild this is a day to celebrate.  Grandparents are precious to their families and play a key role in our society.

• In the USA 5.7 million older persons are raising their grandchildren or heading a household that includes children.
• Grandparents care for 28% of preschoolers whose mothers are employed in the USA.
• 80% of US grandparents saw or spoke with their grandchildren by phone in the past month.
• Spending time with a grandparent is linked with better social skills and fewer behavior problems among adolescents. (US Concensus Bureau)
• In countries where AIDS is rampant, grandparents are often the sole living relatives to care for their grandchildren.  The generation of their own children has been wiped out by the disease.
• Even grandparents who may not have access to their grandchildren often remain AgeEsteem role models and mentors for both parents and grandchildren.

Help Others

An important trait of people with high age-esteem is that they are happy and help others.

After an exhaustive study, the prestigious Pew Society in the United States came to the conclusion that the more people give of themselves to others in terms of time, money or other things, the happier they are. Not only that, they feel that in giving, they are the ones who receive more.

You want to be happy?  Find ways to help others!

• Identify people around you who seem truly happy.
• Interview these people about how they are helping others.  Do they build part of their leisure and/or budget with that purpose?   Even though they don’t normally talk about it spontaneously, you’re bound to find that they are regularly contributing to the lives of others in some way.
• Test the concept personally.  Build in an activity that focuses on others rather than on you.

Help others.  Build your age-esteem and find happiness at every age.

Senator Edward Kennedy is a prime example of someone who had to mature and grow in experience and wisdom in order to leave a positive heritage for the American people.  His early career was stained with scandals and mistakes. But his later career focused on making his country a better place to live.  It is the man of experience and wisdom that will be remembered.

We, too, can make our own communities more attractive places as we share our own experience, expertise and wisdom with AgeEsteem.

Among the 2,500 bills that Kennedy authored as Senator from 1962 – 2009 was the “Hospital Insurance Program under Social Security for the Aged” (Medicare) and the law barring age discrimination.