Note: This session will be held in the Quiet Room on the Library's second floor.

Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old by Steven Petrow—who writes about aging for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and AARP—is a humorous, honest, laundry list of all the stubborn, frustrating things Petrow’s parents did, until he started to age and saw that list with clarity and poignancy. He contrasts his parents’ generational attitudes towards aging as well as their struggles, alongside his own experiences as he faces illnesses, creaking limbs, and greying hair. He commits to embracing the beauty, poignancy, and richness of his own life.

Petrow writes you should challenge the status quo of “what’s acceptable at your age.”  You can toss out negative expectations of age with some planning and recalibrate your attitude. Why not wear whatever you want? Take that trip? Keep conquering new technologies? Keep expanding your social circle, and have friends of any age? Don’t let any preconceptions about your life or what’s expected of you hold you back. That’s a stupid thing, at any age.

On the other side of the coin, embrace the change. Dying your hair or changing your age on dating apps won’t get you far. Becoming self-absorbed in your skyrocketing cholesterol levels or arthritic knees won’t prepare you for handling more serious medical issues when they arise. Not that you shouldn’t talk about them at all, but we are more than the sum of our organs. “Remember to limit talk of your medications at dinner to just a single cocktail.”

Please note: The book will be available for checkout starting around the last week of March. If you register for the discussion, you'll receive an email when the books are in. Thank you for your patience!