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Aging poetic? One writer’s observations after attending the first “The Poetics of Aging” annual conference. “‘How stunningly shortsighted, to view aging as decline! Aging allows us to keep writing the poem we call our life.’” Recommended reading.

Know the competition. Neighbor children with shortcake, one-floor living, nose-dived real estate prices, the NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) – it’s another look inside what’s keeping many seniors at home.

Boomers recall. Increasingly, the ’70s are what seniors call history. A visual tour.

Late success. Can entrepreneurs be successful in both the business and social sectors – later in life? Word is, yes. “We’ve just got to help them ‘shift gears,’ retrain them, and help them apply all their years of experience to something new.”

Changing the game. There’s a new version of Risk. It’s more like life, because even when you start over, where you’ve been and what you’ve done is part of who you are. It’s a classic, updated.

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After their automobile accident, Norma and Gordon Yeager lay dying in intensive care. They held hands, lying side by side, and passed 70 minutes apart. They had been married more than 70 years.

Their tenderness and longevity has at least an equal in the Italian discovery of two 1,500-year-old skeletons. Entombed with hands clasped and positioned to face each other, the couple seem locked in an eternal snuggle, save that the man’s head rolled away from her gaze at some point – due to gravity more than a failure of monogamy.

Both news stories coincidentally surfaced alongside recent in-office discussions about the marketing and branding of senior living, which we do, but which we sometimes pause to reconsider in the interest of keeping our approach focused, sane and useful. Precisely for those reasons, I asked coworker Candice, who’s awfully smart, what she thinks marketing senior living is most like. Retail? Real Estate? Insurance?

Candice: No. No. And no. Choosing a senior living community isn’t like any of those. It’s like choosing who to marry.

Chas: Who’m I to correct your grammar? Please go on.

Candice: Consider the steps. First, you date. You choose somebody in your neighborhood, somebody you work with, a friend of a friend. Or you use a dating service. Whatever. You get up the courage to ask the person out, and if it goes poorly, that’s it for that one. If it goes well, you’ll go on several dates – and maybe you’re dating several people before you focus on just one. But you figure out what the person is really like.

Chas: Dating’s fun. I once dated this nurse who –

Candice: Don’t care. After dating a while, you get into this urgency and commitment thing. You’re wooing, one of you’s hesitant while the other’s more eager, and it can take awhile before you both agree about making a commitment.

Chas: Oooh. Scary.

Candice: You might think so. And the thing is, two people dating can find plenty of roadblocks and plenty of ways to slow everything down. I’m not ready yet … Marriage isn’t for me … I don’t have enough money … I’m too young.

Chas: Or … This will ruin me! … I need my freedom! … I’m a lone wolf and can’t be caged!

Candice: Umm, okay. The point is, when you’re thinking about getting married, you want to make sure you’re compatible because you’re going to spend lots of time together. Why not take your time?

Chas: Because the entrance fees go up in January?

Candice: We’re talking about marriage. You take your time because marriage is a big decision. And then you finally bite the bullet and get married. You don’t want to wait any longer. Time’s running out. And sometimes you find the right one, and you’re partners for life.

Chas: Happily ever after.

Candice: Yes, like that. Or maybe more like you wonder why you waited so long to get married. You realize it’s not so bad. In fact, it’s good. And that’s when you tell your friends they should get married, too.

Chas: Ah-hah! So that’s how choosing a senior living community is like choosing a marriage partner!

Candice: Right. Dating is like getting to know the choices of communities. And then you settle into the process of thinking about it and maybe moving toward commitment – with lots of worries and fact-finding along the way. But when you finally decide, it’s almost always something you feel really good about.

Chas: Got it. Prospects are dating. Leads are going steady. Depositors are betrothed. And hey! I’m craving wedding cake.

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Talkin’ ‘bout a Longevity Revolution. I hear it’s on a par with the Agricultural Revolution, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution and maybe even the Information Revolution. Except with this revolution you don’t get all that expand-the-opportunities, improve-the-quality-of-life, raise-the-standard-of-living stuff you’ve come to expect from a good revolution. You just get swelling numbers of seniors and sweeping changes to the socio-economic landscape.

Good pick. NPR tells a remarkable and beautiful story about a father and son who are evenly matched in vitality, creativity and ambition. Got a few minutes? Watch the videos full screen, volume up.

Wii bowling meets its match. There’s no chance fingerboarding won’t sweep the senior living field.

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Get your own room. Since “as many as 23 percent of married couples don’t sleep side-by-side through the night,” communities for those who are 55 and better are adding snore rooms to their floor plans. And it’s not just snoring that drives partners to seek refuge. For some working couples, the dual owners’ suite solves the problem of conflicting schedules: With one tucking in late and the other rising early, the secondary bedroom allows for each to rest in peace.

Slovenian high schooler photographs his grandmother. Every life is rich and beautiful, isn’t it? Nine images: a life.

Ebook reader usage turns a page: Read all about it. “The share of adults in the United States who own an ebook reader doubled to 12% in May, 2011 from 6% in November 2010.” That’s bestseller stuff, as technology goes, and a sure sign that ebook readers like Kindle and Nook are gaining mainstream acceptance. For seniors, usage data isn’t as clear, but the advantages of ebook readers for older adults suggest it’s only a matter of time. Browsing online bookstores offers titles galore, and downloads are quick — which makes an ebook reader a dandy alternative to trekking to the bookstore or library. What’s more, a new set of web-based lending sites allows Kindle and Nook users to lend each other their ebooks. I expect if they don’t already, senior living communities will soon join the title-swapping fun.

Get a charge out of walking. Now there’s a shoe-based technology that can recharge small batteries. Reverse electrowetting is expected to find widespread usage in the military and in developing countries, where access to power is limited. Research continues, and battery-charging shoes aren’t likely to reach the mall for several more years. If you can bring your wind turbine beanie to market sooner, go for it.

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Seniors give heat warnings the cold shoulder. Despite front-page news about the 2011 heat wave, heat-related deaths and repeated warnings for caution, seniors who hear how the vulnerable elderly ought to take every precaution have one common thought: “I’m not old.” One poll says 90% of over-65s know about the heat warnings, and 85% of those ignore them. Why? It seems to be a matter of self-image — and denial. Among Boomers, for example, it’s not unusual to believe “old” starts at 70 — maybe even 80. Many believe fitness and healthy diets trump aging’s effects. And for those who are rarin’ to go — no matter the heat index — belief in using common sense wins out, even though the common sense may be more aptly applied to a 40-year-old. Truth is, the body changes, the sense of thirst diminishes, internal organs aren’t what they used to be … and when it’s hot out, by golly, chill.

Caring costs. A new report AARP has posted tallies the totals on caring. Bottom line? It’s getting more expensive to be a caregiver: “In 2009, about 42.1 million family caregivers in the U.S. provided care to an adult with limitations in daily activities at any given point in time, and about 61.6 million provided care at some time during the year. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $450 billion in 2009, up from an estimated $375 billion in 2007.” The report is available in a series of .pdf downloads.

That shifting retirement idea. From the SunAmerica Financial Group comes a study clarifying the new retirement mindset: Retirement no longer means an end to working. “A more pragmatic vision of retirement is emerging.” Find an eye-opening summary here.

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