A Midsummer Midlife Midwest Dream

Midwest Boomer Bloggers with our hosts.

Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Boomer Voices program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.

The "L" and buses

311 S. Wacker

I just returned from several days of travel, which included time spent in Chicago near the summer solstice--or "midsummer" as Shakespeare calls it.

I was in the heart of downtown Chicago, aka the "Loop," which includes many shops, restaurants, buildings and artwork.

My trip included two nights in the beautiful Allerton Hotel and two days in the John Hancock Center.

Like Shakespeare's characters, I had a rollicking good time near the longest day of the year.  During my stay in Chicago, I got to meet 15 other midlife bloggers from the Midwest.  It was a dream come true.

Positive Aging Day 2013

Photo by WSU Aging Studies

Earlier this week, I had the chance to attend Positive Aging Day here in Wichita, KS. This event is supported by a number of organizations, including the Central Plains Area Agency on Aging.

In addition to 20 sessions in concurrent sessions, we enjoyed a keynote speaker (Rip Gooch, member of the Black Aviation Hall of Fame) during lunch.  Find a detailed program here.

I attended the following sessions:

Movies Set in Nursing Homes

Photo by North Dakota National Guard. 

Most movies focus on the characters. Sometimes, however, the setting exerts considerable influence.

The setting looms large for many movies filmed in nursing homes, assisted living facilities or even active living retirement communities.

Often the conflict for movies with such settings stems from an environment populated primarily with people in late adulthood.

Below find a sampling of such movies, which mainly feature films but two documentaries as well.

Lifestyle Choices Help Us to Get Old

Yoga instructor Tao Porchon-Lynch b. 1918. Photo by Born in the South. 

"Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it,
you've got to start young." Theodore Roosevelt

How we age depends a great deal on lifestyle choices.   Yes, family history and environment play some role. However, we can improve the quality of our life as we age (and we are all aging) by making healthy choices every day.

The Get Old program, run by Pfizer and their partners, supports healthy aging by providing information on how to make better lifestyle choices.  In a statement released today, Pfizer shares this eye-opening fact:

"Chronic diseases are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and many could be prevented or delayed through simple lifestyle changes. According to the World Health Organization, eliminating three risk factors – poor diet, inactivity and smoking – would prevent 80% of heart disease and stroke, 80% of type 2 diabetes, and 40% of cancers."