Moment’s after each Super Bowl, a jubilant football player shouts, “I’m going to Disneyland!” Recently I had an opposite realization.
The beard is dead. Long live the beard.
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 11, 2024
Imagine you’re an elderly rehab patient, maybe trying to recover mobility after a stroke, and receiving treatment in a long-term care facility. Your therapist is a ferocious taskmaster, constantly...
The saddle in the garage
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 07, 2024
For decades after his last ride, it rested on a sawhorse in a darkened corner of my father’s garage — his favorite Western saddle.
The smiling robot
By
Gary Tetz
May 16, 2024
When I was still a prepubescent boy with many questions, never once did my father take me aside and explain how smiles are made. As a result, I’ve always been a terrible smiler, simply because I never...
No place for a pessimist
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 22, 2024
My new co-worker’s eyes sparkled with excitement and anticipation when he said it, like a child on Christmas morning expecting to find a Red Ryder BB gun under the tree. “I love...
Knitting a team
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 18, 2024
I can still remember the clicking of needles and the feeling of chunky strands of cotton passing silently between my fingers. It was early in my elementary school epoch, and we tiny people sat cross-legged...
The underappreciated bartenders of long-term care
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 21, 2024
Before you think poorly of me, let me explain. I was in the bar that afternoon only because I had heard such great things about the nachos. Not buying it? How about this: I was conducting an in-person...
Passion isn’t enough
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 31, 2024
With each facility tour you give and prospective admission you consider, never forget that families like mine, whose hearts are breaking, cling desperately to every word and promise.
Feeling stressed? Use your chopsticks
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 04, 2024
We’ve long known that mindfulness programs can improve the physical and emotional well-being of nursing home residents — and the rest of us too.
Beyond the love meter
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 07, 2024
Love may be a many splendored thing, but it can also be elusive, at least in my experience. So when I read in McKnight’s about new “love meter” technology now available, my mind whirled with possibilities. ...