There is a topic I feel it is necessary to discuss here, however because this is a family newspaper, I will do so without saying what I mean. I value openness and one of my missions is to “make the covert overt” but this topic is still a bit delicate. There seems to be some denial in society about where the baby boom came from. If you look at it straight on, it’s pretty obvious that the silent generation was being quiet so they wouldn’t get caught. Now that they are in their seventies and older, we somehow maintain the illusion that because we never saw them being intimate, they weren’t then and aren’t now. The AARP survey done on intimate behavior was done almost ten years ago. They found that older adults think about it quite often, and those who have an opportunity do it quite often. I’m sure that widowed women and men, and those who may have been out of circulation for a long time are as shy, awkward and unsure as any teenager or middle-aged divorcee trying to date without practice. But the one thing we know for sure about humans is that despite whatever obstacles they find, they find a way to get close.
If you are a family member or caregiver to an older adult, keep in mind they need privacy and atmosphere too, and remember my constant advice- take the oldest older adults to community events, how else are they going to hook up?
Now about the issue of concern. Just because you can’t … be with child…doesn’t make you immune to infection. There are some bad bugs out there! Virus that destroy your immune system, the classic STDs are still going around, and evolving into drug resistant strains. Use appropriate barriers to protect yourself and your partner. Get tested. Be safe. For gosh sakes! You’re a role model!