Valerie Schultz is a freelance writer, journalist, columnist for The Bakersfield Californian, and a contributing writer to the Jesuit publication America and the daily prayer book Give Us This Day. Her essays and short stories have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as in Catholic publications such as US Catholic, Commonweal, Human Development, and The National Catholic Reporter. Her books include Closer: Musings on Intimacy, Marriage, and God (2008), Overdue: A Dewey Decimal System of Grace (2019) and A Hill of Beans: The Grace of Everyday Troubles (2021).

This is a wonderful book, a book to be savored, and I have urged my friends to buy and read it. At times it feels like a personal journal, and at other times like a deep conversation between good friends. It is full of wisdom on subjects that matter most.

• Chapter 1: Aging in the Generations Before UsChapter 2: Lessons of MortalityChapter 3: Incorrect AdagesChapter 4: Parallels of Babyhood and Old AgeChapter 5: The Politics of AgingChapter 6: Some Physical and Mental Realities of AgingChapter 7: Balancing Outrage and AcceptanceChapter 8: In Praise of Invisible WomenChapter 9: Circling to LandChapter 10: Generativity and IntegrityChapter 11: The Stuff We LeaveChapter 12: The AfterlifeAfterwordIndex About the Author

Valerie Schultz is a freelance writer, journalist, columnist for The Bakersfield Californian, and a contributing writer to the Jesuit publication America and the daily prayer book Give Us This Day. Her essays and short stories have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as in Catholic publications such as US Catholic, Commonweal, Human Development, and The National Catholic Reporter. Her books include Closer: Musings on Intimacy, Marriage, and God (2008), Overdue: A Dewey Decimal System of Grace (2019) and A Hill of Beans: The Grace of Everyday Troubles (2021).

This is a wonderful book, a book to be savored, and I have urged my friends to buy and read it. At times it feels like a personal journal, and at other times like a deep conversation between good friends. It is full of wisdom on subjects that matter most.

• Chapter 1: Aging in the Generations Before UsChapter 2: Lessons of MortalityChapter 3: Incorrect AdagesChapter 4: Parallels of Babyhood and Old AgeChapter 5: The Politics of AgingChapter 6: Some Physical and Mental Realities of AgingChapter 7: Balancing Outrage and AcceptanceChapter 8: In Praise of Invisible WomenChapter 9: Circling to LandChapter 10: Generativity and IntegrityChapter 11: The Stuff We LeaveChapter 12: The AfterlifeAfterwordIndex About the Author

Valerie Schultz is a freelance writer, journalist, columnist for The Bakersfield Californian, and a contributing writer to the Jesuit publication America and the daily prayer book Give Us This Day. Her essays and short stories have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as in Catholic publications such as US Catholic, Commonweal, Human Development, and The National Catholic Reporter. Her books include Closer: Musings on Intimacy, Marriage, and God (2008), Overdue: A Dewey Decimal System of Grace (2019) and A Hill of Beans: The Grace of Everyday Troubles (2021).

This is a wonderful book, a book to be savored, and I have urged my friends to buy and read it. At times it feels like a personal journal, and at other times like a deep conversation between good friends. It is full of wisdom on subjects that matter most.

• Chapter 1: Aging in the Generations Before UsChapter 2: Lessons of MortalityChapter 3: Incorrect AdagesChapter 4: Parallels of Babyhood and Old AgeChapter 5: The Politics of AgingChapter 6: Some Physical and Mental Realities of AgingChapter 7: Balancing Outrage and AcceptanceChapter 8: In Praise of Invisible WomenChapter 9: Circling to LandChapter 10: Generativity and IntegrityChapter 11: The Stuff We LeaveChapter 12: The AfterlifeAfterwordIndex About the Author