All the news today is that “Women in Their 20s May Not Be Having Babies, but by 45 Most Probably Will," New York Times, April 9, 2026, by Claire Cain Miller. Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics say that the fertility rate, the number of births per thousand women of childbearing age, dropped to 53.1 from 53.8 in 2024 and has been falling since 2007 “…. showing a rise in the fertility rate among women in their 30s and 40s. The fertility rate for women

I met Cora Wen at the memoir writers’ retreat in Guatemala. There was something about Cora that drew me to her. Maybe it was that both of us came from immigrant families. Her energy is addictive. Cora was my therapeutic yoga teacher as well. We met at 7 AM every morning and she helped heal my broken shoulder, the Eastern way, and its excellent healing surprised my Western doctor. East and West. Much better when our lives – and our health -- are intertwined. Cora wrote P

One of the worst moments in life is when the doctor advises to call hospice for you or your loved one. Inside, you panic. This is navigating a new unknown. The end is now close, and no one wants to contemplate this inevitable. Hospice care is supposed to be specialized, compassionate care for individuals with terminal illnesses (generally less than six months to live) that is supposed to prioritize quality of life, comfort, and dignity over curative treatment . Suppo

As a grandmother, I will do anything to make my grandchildren happy. I knew about MrBeast on YouTube because my then seven-year-old and 13 year-old grandchildren kept showing me all the contests where he was giving away ridiculously large amounts of cash. They were hooked on MrBeast, who has been on YouTube for thirteen years, longer than the ages of my grandchildren when they introduced me to him. When MrBeast announced that he was selling chocolate, of course they wanted th

We grandparents love to spend time with our grandchildren. My grandchildren range from age 7 to age 22, and each of the six is special in his or her own way. Five of them are Generation Z or “Zoomers”, between 14 and 29 years old, the first true digital generation, knowing and living with smartphones and social media attached to them at the hip, and finding anything that will grab their attention otherwise is a miracle. Enter the miracle of American Mah Jongg! And auspicio

My mother, a Holocaust survivor and daughter of a Kabbalist rabbi from a small town in pre World War II Poland, had a unique outlook on life. It is not unusual that looking back on my childhood and younger adulthood that I realize now her wisdom was rooted in Kabbalah. I just did not know then. I wrote a previous New Year’s blog about my mother and feelings of gratitude. Rereading it reminded me of the wonderful generational life lessons she instilled in me every day that she

Within the last several months, I have felt a sudden compulsion to address the Holocaust in my life and write a memoir of how the Holocaust impacted my family and me. Until this point, I could not see movies about the Holocaust, I could not read books about the Holocaust. I could not deal with the Holocaust as a child of Holocaust survivors. This turnabout has perplexed me. Because of this new compulsion, I just returned from a Jewish Heritage tour to Eastern Europe, visited

Whenever a couple near and dear to me tells me that they are entering into a committed relationship, getting engaged, or getting married, I first recommend premarital counseling, which I learned builds a strong foundation for the new committed relationship or marriage. There will be three entities, each person as an individual and as a separate entity, the committed or marital relationship. Combining the entities in a safe, expert setting eases the transition. Why not make g

All of a sudden, or not so sudden with the domination of social media, and everybody in a group sitting on their phones rather than talking to each other, studies about everything about friends and friendships are everywhere. But are they helpful? The Why I was raised by two Holocaust survivors who believed that friends were those who turned you over to the Nazis, and only family members were the people you could depend on and with whom you should surround yourself. Leaving o

There is a new trauma for the parents of our baby grandchildren and we grandparents have the key to alleviate the angst. The controversy...

When interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Warren Buffett, now 94 years old, was asked, “how did you know the day that you became old?”...

It is actually just now two years, two months, and three days since my husband died and I became a widow. You learn a lot becoming a...

In The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Monday, February 7, 2022, Amy Dickinson’s column concerned a thirty seven year marriage and a wife in...

This post is dedicated to a dear friend who just entered into a new phase in her life, that of being a mother-in-law. Yes, there is a...

Why does this Grandma use the terms “rules and Regulations” and for “in-law parents”? If you, the reader, are asking, then you are new to...

I initially wrote this blog post a few years ago. One long (we never say old) dear friend has a new baby grandson who lives nearby with...

QUESTION NUMBER ONE Do you want to be helped, heard or hugged? How many times has someone dear to us been upset and we mistake their...

Women’s History Month, since 1987, is celebrated the entire month of March each year, a celebration of the contributions of strong women...

Returning to Fort Lauderdale on Jet Blue, our preferred carrier between New York and Florida, a young father (and they are looking...

I have addressed this issue before, and seems that it is time to address it again. Sometimes simple answers do not provide a complete...