2019 Editions

I fell into fall and didn’t know it.

After years tethered to an academic calendar, school started without me, or at least without me noticing.

Other signs of the season were there, of course. The daylight started shifting in mid-

August. Cricket and locust chirps grew more persistent. The golds and purples of wildflowers replaced the white and pink flushes in ditches and fallow fields. Still, I was surprised to see the school buses go by.

Without kids in school anymore and no grandkids (yet), my calendar is a rambling, undisciplined affair that lands mostly on work deadlines and holidays. It’s a bigger-picture type of calendar that I follow these days, marking time by seasons instead of school days. It gives me the chance to take a long view of things. My focus is broader, not narrowed by someone else’s timeline.

This broader view fits our theme, “Restore.” We profile three Boomers who conserve and preserve special things, some centuries, others decades old. Experience counts, as these conservators prove. You can read about them on page 30.

Taking the theme further, we have two stories about yoga and its enduring benefits. If you haven’t tried it or gave it up years ago, our story on page 32 provides plenty of reasons for another look. I’ve heard about goat yoga but never understood the appeal of having one graze near my yoga mat.  We explain the charm of goat yoga, too.

Here’s a blast from our past: the Richfield Coliseum. Rising from fields in the middle of nowhere, the massive structure deserved the coliseum moniker. It’s now a haven for birds and bird watchers. Two decades after the Coliseum’s demolition, we’ve got a story about the property’s restoration on page 34.

We have two more Restore topics: cosmetic tattoos and side gigs.

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It's pumpkin time. If you are unsure what else goes with pumpkin, think about your favorite butternut squash or sweet potato recipe and incorporate pumpkin into it. What grows together goes together, so things like local maple syrup, root vegetables and dark, leafy greens complement pumpkin really well. ...

When  I heard that Boomer’s theme this issue was “restore,”  it touched me in many ways — both personally and professionally. 

Having reached my mid-60s, I understand how important it is to review your life priorities and consider how to maximize every day, both spiritually and physically. And, as a dentist with 42 years of experience and having seen many oral conditions, I have a sense of how our health plays a major role in how we move forward.

Good Teeth, Good Health
Our teeth and mouth need to be in great shape. Fillings, crowns, bridges and veneers are called “restorations” by the dental community. They restore teeth to their original conditions, before cavities or fractures. In this way, the patient has the ability to masticate (chew) food and break it down into the various nutrients needed to sustain life. Ask any person with a lower denture if they enjoy eating and most will tell you that it will never be like it was when they had their own teeth. Implants help with stability, but the force is still greatly reduced and the acrylic and/or porcelain changes the taste of food.  

From an emotional standpoint, having a nice smile is very important to one’s presentation and outlook. The first thing we see when we have an encounter with someone else is their teeth and smile. Having focused my practice on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, I can tell you that the most gratifying thing we can hear in our office is a patient’s comment that the veneers and/or crowns we placed on their anterior teeth have “changed their life.” 

As we continue to live longer, which may include working longer and dating at a more mature age, our smile plays a more important role. Just recently, a patient whose daughter was getting married and another who was attending her high school reunion wrote us that they kept getting compliments about how wonderful they looked; both were convinced that their teeth and smiles were the attention-getters.

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What scares kids? Sometimes it's the adults around them or the adults' response to things that are happening. Children who are around adults who most often express positive emotions have been shown to be able to control their emotions better than children who are subject to mostly negative expressions. Most kids look to adults for how they react to circumstances and mirror these responses. ...

Here's what one of Northeast Ohio's keeping of special things says about his job: “Being able to preserve these historic structures that tell the story of the development of this region and honor the craftsmanship of those who built up this area through the historic structures is just super interesting to me. The history of architecture in the region, seeing how it’s changed over time and to be able to see how folks built and utilized these buildings is just fascinating. I think it’s really important that we are able to reflect on our past to see what the path forward should be.” ...

Tattoo artists do more than accessorize Millennials. Many provide cosmetic and medical services.

Pat Peters of Chardon recently tapped into their services for eyebrows. “I was a child of the late ‘50s, early ‘60s. Back then, we all had to pluck our eyebrows. When you keep plucking, eventually they don’t come back,” she says. “Combine that with age and I lost the last one-third of my eyebrows. I couldn’t find the right color eye pencil to replace them and I got tired of crooked eyebrows. They never matched.”

After her husband’s death, Peters decided to do something for herself – get permanent eyebrows.  “I’m trying to be the best me I can be,” she says. “Now I can’t picture my face without them. They frame my face. The color is perfect.”

Ink that Camouflages
Christine Gallowan, tattoo artist and owner of Mirror Mirror Artistry in Cleveland, works with people to camouflage scars from chemotherapy ports, to define lip shape after cleft-palate surgery, to recreate belly buttons and to restore breast appearance. 

For example, mastectomy patients lose nipples and surrounding breast structure. “I will recreate in 3D — using shadow and highlight 0151 — a nipple and areola. Some women visit me before surgery or bring a photograph so when they come back after healing, I can recreate what they had before.”

“I’m not fixing anything, I’m camouflaging,” she says. 

While medical issues draw many Boomers to tattoos, cosmetic changes due to aging such as hair loss and skin fading lead others to find a permanent and convenient solution. 

Peters’ daughter, Anna Peters, 55, of East Claridon Township, had brownish-black eyeliner tattooed onto her lower lids several years earlier. “I like my eyes and like to show them off, ”she says. “Permanent eyeliner is the best thing I’ve done for myself. If I’m just hanging out around town, I never have to put makeup on.

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Need some extra cash? Then you need a side hustle. We talked to local Boomers who found ways to make extra money in their spare time. ...

One common situation is estate planning for a blended family or an unmarried couple. Here’s an example: A couple remarried in their 50s. They each had children from their first marriage. The husband died 20 years later. He had wanted to provide for his second wife, so he signed a will that stated that all of his assets were left to his wife with the understanding that, on his wife’s death, those assets would go to his children. Read more to find out what happened. ...