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YOUR FIFTY-FIVE PLUS NEWS Forever Young Putting all of that retirement advice into practice As someone who has been publishing articles about retiring and retirees for many years, it’s finally time to put all of those tips and aspirations into practice. My husband, three years my senior, retired two years ago. Working at my “home office” set up at a small desk tucked away in our dining room, his retired state was in my face. | never considered this would happen when | married a slightly older man. | never conceived of a pandemic that would have me working at home when he started not working. Now I've caught up. This is the day that | retire from Metroland, my employer for the past 43 years. It's a happy coincidence that the “Forever Young" section is published in the newspa- pers at the first of the month, giving me the opportunity for one last column. “Forever Young” magazine was one of many publica- tions of which | was the editor. Readers might Jane Muller , Up Front is recall FY, a magazine in newspaper format that featured a “senior” celebrity on the cover each month. | inherited the magazine from long-time editor Don Wall and piloted it for about a decade before it was shuttered a few years ago. “Forever Young” was the evolution of “Today's Seniors” magazine that launched in the ‘80s - when | was a “junior" In fact, | was. a junior reporter in 1980, starting fresh out of college at the “Milton Canadian Champion”. With my portable typewriter and Pentax SP 1000 SLR camera in hand, | launched a jour- ney | could never have imagined would span 43 years and leap through incredible tech- nological changes in the publishing industry. Much less could | have seen me as the editor of a parenting magazine (“City Parent’) for 16 years. | didn’t even want kids back then but happily embraced my two wonderful sons later in life. What | wanted to do when | grew up was. to be the editor of “Cosmopolitan” magazine. Helen Gurley Brown wasn't about to step aside, so | settled. “Cosmo is still in publica- tion. | stopped reading it in my early 20s. I'd figured out how to be an independent career woman by then. As | begin to figure out how to not be a career woman and pen this farewell, I'm going to share something that I've said many times but have never written about. It’s that the term “forever young’ doesn't sit well with me. | understand that we can continue to be young at heart, are only as old as we feel and age is just a number. Still, | can’t honestly say that | want to be forever young. Is it that fact that it’s an impossible goal? That could be part of it. I'm not against being young. Been there, done that, with a few regrets to prove it. There is only one way to stop aging and it’s not with Botox injections, medi-spa treatments, creams, hair dye and potions. I'd rather keep celebrating birthdays, honouring the years. Marketing aimed at our age group touts “anti-aging”: I'm pro-aging. | know too many who didn’t get the chance. “Old” should not be considered derogatory. One of the lessons life teaches us is that there is no “forever” There is today for sure. And today is my last as a senior special fea- tures editor with Metroland Media. So much written, assigned, edited and published. So many great memories and friendships have me feeling, dare | say, “forever” blessed and grateful. ° ° e ee Canadian Cremation Services Limited The Dignified Alternative™ ESSENTIAL CREMATION PACKAGE Professional Staff & Services $520.00 Documentation $190.00 Transfer from Place of Death $250.00 ($1.85km after 60km) Facilities for Shelter $125.00 Basic Preparation $100.00 General Duty Vehicle $85.00 Transfer to Crematorium $165.00 Basic Cremation Casket $170.00 (Eternité 101) ’s Fee $75.00 Saturday, September 16' from 1-4 p.m. Enjoy eats with an international flair, craft stations, entertainment & more! To RSVP please call (905) 582-0395 Located at 3136 Dundas St W, Oakville Visit PalermovVillageRetirement.com Palermo Village RETIREMENT RESIDENCE 5 i j , £ ey Creekie\wiww.canadi My Choice... Pure & Simple™ f €Z0Z ‘2 Jequieydes ‘Aepsiny, | seAeeg eUAyeO | 2Z woo'uo}!eyepisu