Happy 7th Blogoversary

Photo by Jim Larrison.

Seven years ago today, I launched this blog, The Generation Above Me.

For the previous six years, I have posted the Top 10 or 20 Views over the life of the blog. When I checked the statistics this morning, the posts in the Top 20 stayed relatively constant over the last year.

If you want to peruse the list of most viewed posts, you can visit last year's blogoversary post:

Not a Resolution but a Focus Word

Photo by Justin Vidamo via Creative Commons

As the New Year approaches in a matter of hours, I'm once again rejecting resolutions. However, instead of doing nothing to mark a new beginning, I decided to choose a focus word.

I've seen people do this over the last decade or so, but I haven't taken any time to select a word for myself.

Until today.

I've selected GROUNDED as my first one word challenge. Here are a few quotes to launch me on my journey:

Jessie's Empty Nest in Toy Story 2

Photo by Jeff Christiansen.

Toy Story 2 was released in 1999, which was during a time between the births of my two children. 

As they moved through their childhood, we watched the film at home several times to their delight..

The first five times I watched Toy Story 2 with my young children, I focused on Emily.

That character demonstrated how my children were moving through stages of childhood and leaving childhood things behind.

Then when my children became tweens and teens, I didn't watch this film at all.

Now my children are launching into adulthood.

My son moved to Nevada a year and a half ago, and I haven't seen him at all during this time. My daughter is a senior in high school.

Intellectually, I understand that they need to establish their own lives. I've been teaching university classes and running academic support services since the 1980s. During these several decades, I've been self-righteously telling parents who visit campus to "let go."

Experiencing an emptying nest myself is more emotional than I anticipated. 

2018 Top Ten Posts

Photo by vallgall.

It's time to look back at the posts published in 2018 here at The Generation Above Me.

Most of the posts were book reviews or film reviews with a smattering of posts about health, fitness, and biomarkers of longevity.

Three of the posts written in 2018 were about an invigorating conference on aging and wellness. (Two of the MAIA posts made the Top 10.)

In my non-blogging life, I teach part-time at two universities.

I teach classes in gerontology at University of Southern Indiana and writing classes at University of Evansville.

Sometimes my paid work supports my blogging, sometimes it pulls me away. I did a lot of research about ancient Athenian democracy this year in support of a class I taught, but none of that showed up on the blog. I work as a volunteer for the MAIA conference co-sponsored by USI; a lot of that showed up on the blog.

Without further ado, here are the 2018 Top 10 Most Viewed posts from The Generation Above Me.

In ascending order...

10.  Blood Urea Nitrogen: Biomarker of Health and Longevity

If BUN values are too high or too low, this may indicate problems such as under/over hydration, poor liver function, poor kidney function, heart problems, pancreas problems, nutrition problems (protein intake particularly), etc.

9. Preview for the 2018 MAIA and Wellness

Before the conference, I listed presenters' Twitter handles / Facebook pages for ease of reference while live tweeting. There are 30 plus fantastic professionals in the areas of wellness across the lifespan with particular attention to aging well. Follow them all on social media!