- Terry BallantyneDirty Little SecretsDecember 7, 2015Our culture tends to romanticize things or speak in euphemisms about the hard stuff. Nobody tells new mothers just how challenging the 24 hour presence of a newborn is. It would sound ungrateful. We soldiered on in relative silence, and unless you have the luxury and the joy of a family nearby that consists of supportive women: loving and wise aunts, grandparents and a trusted mother, it is a daunting stretch those first months and then really the first years. Spreading the responsibility helps both...
- Terry BallantyneMind Your EldersApril 20, 2015I’m getting some pushback about the term Olderhood. “Why not Elderhood” “Why or Seniorhood” I am asked. “I don’t want to be old.” they tell me. I called it Olderhood because everyone is older than someone. First graders hold sway over kindergarden kids. High school kids disdain the junior high group. Seniors are the elders to the Freshman class. As we move through life we are getting older, and this column is not directed solely at the 80+ crowd. There are things of interest hopefully...
- Terry BallantyneWhen Moving Forward is Really Really HardFebruary 13, 2015For the person selling the family home in their 70s, 80s, or 90s, it represents so much more than a change of residence. And this group has a limited voice and not much say over what happens when adult children step in to be "practical" or "realistic". It is rather like looking at the folks who endured the dust bowl phenomenon in Oklahoma. "Why didn't they just leave?" Why endure that horrific dust and wind and loss and devastation year after year? Because it was...
- Terry BallantyneChanging The ConversationFebruary 11, 2015As we navigate the norms, and push against the complacency born of ignorance, exhaustion and isolation, we are slowly forging a new path through end of life issues. We must challenge all of it, the doctors, the funeral homes, Medicare, our families, the popular culture. Our death, and our bodies are ours alone and we need to be proactive in how it goes down. https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/…/know-the-hard-choices-pro…/…
- Terry Ballantyne
- Terry Ballantyne