By Meryl Ain for the NABBW It’s a beautiful day in my neighborhood and a wonderful morning for a walk. It’s early so hardly anyone is out yet, enabling me to pull my mask low on my face breathing in the sweet fragrance of the season, noting that this is exactly what spring smelled like when I was a child. I stop to take photos of the gorgeous pink and yellow and orange tulips, which remind me of how my mother lovingly planted the bulbs in our backyard garden each year.  I spot a couple of robin redbreasts. I haven’t yet encountered a cardinal, but sure as it’s spring, I know I will. Ever... Read More

By Meryl Ain For the NABBW The weeklong celebration of Hoda Kotb’s 50th birthday on the Today Show culminated with a congratulatory video message from First Lady Michelle Obama to a surprised and delighted Hoda. Throughout the week, 50 was celebrated as glamorous, sexy and a time for reinvention. This is all true, and I wish Hoda a happy birthday and many years of good health and fulfillment. But I have to think that it would have been nice when those of us in the leading edge of Baby Boomers turned 50 and then 60 to have had validation of how glamorous, sexy, and “young” we were. First,... Read More

Losing Our Parents and Keeping Their Memories Alive By Meryl Ain For the NABBW I still remember the first time I heard The Beatles on the radio as a teenager. My mother had just told me that my boyfriend had arrived for our Saturday night date. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” came on the radio and I was transfixed. I had to hear the whole song before I went downstairs. It has been 50 years since The Beatles first visited the United States, but their music is as alive as ever. Although the Beatles stopped performing as a group in 1970, and John Lennon and George Harrison have passed, their music... Read More