Hello,
How will you celebrate your 90th birthday? Have you started to prepare for that amazing event...and not by practicing the "big blow" for your 90 candles and 
not by deciding the menu or the guests?
Did you begin many years ago to live a life that would bring you to your birthday, be it 60th or 70th or 90th, satisfied with the life you have lived and the relationships you have built?
Will you be able to look back with few regrets over the big decisions and small that shaped your life? All of this amounts to asking yourself, "Have I lived my life based on the morals and the principles taught and exemplified by the role models in my life?"
My family was blessed to celebrate, on September 25th my father's 90th birthday. Since it was a Sunday there was no chance of his being on the golf course or out mowing the lawn so we knew we had his attention for the whole day. What a famil
y celebration we had...not too raucous, but definitely lively with three great grandsons, ages four to eight in attendance and children and grandchildren gathered around as well.
Looking at the photos of our family celebrating with my parents that day, I am brought to reflect on the life of so many Americans of my father's generation and wonder how our grandchildren's lives will compare.
Certainly, Dad's growing up on a family farm during America's Great Depression required hard work and lots of it from all nine children and their parents. I know there was no extra anything, not food or clothing and certainly not money,
in their lives or those of their friends and neighbors.
What they did have in abundance was guidance and the examples of role models to admire, respect and emulate.
Also, there was no lack of chores necessary to the running of the farm so that personal responsibility was learned early and well. Family attendance 
at church was automatic and school work was given high priority evidenced by the fact it was allowed to take time away from necessary work at home.
Sports were an indulgence, but one that many farmers, including my own grandfather, encouraged even if grandpa had to put in longer hours in the field so a son could make baseball practice.
Will our grandchildren have sound and true role models and influences in their young lives? Will they grow up learning the importance of taking responsibility for their own success and feel the pride and confidence that comes only from pushing their way through personal challenges?
When we look around us at the children absorbed in the latest electronics and too often unaware and uninterested in any conversation around them, we have to wonder what is influencing them. As parents and grandparents we cannot abrogate the responsibility of shaping their goals and attitudes and behaviors into those that will give them real guidance and meaningful 
standards in their lives.
They will soon enough want to rebel against what we teach them and what we expect from them, but they will be rebelling against something truthful and solid. It will be their starting point. When they are through changing and rebelling, the base of strong morals and hard work and love of others will still be there waiting to benefit their choices and their lives.
Just recently a grandmother told me she has no idea how to talk to her grandchildren...that they are totally uninterested in anything she has to say. 
I could only assure her that if she approaches them with an obvious curiosity about their school or friends or sports or hobbies, and a genuine interest in their well being the conversations will eventually come. Then she will begin, maybe ever so slowly, to share her experiences and judgement.
If there is still not enough connection with her own grandchildren, I suggested there are many children who are desperate for adult help and approval and kindness. Schools have mentoring programs and churches have Bible and religion classes with never enough volunteers. We want to help our own children and grandchildren, but sometimes and for awhile we may use our experience and concern to be a guide and role model to other children...all are America's children and America's future.
They are the backbone of the economy. What they earn stays in our communities and supports our Little Leagues and local fundraisers.
By going to 
We have been having some problems with spammers on our Senior Chat. They want to sell us something, but we are not falling for that. 
The goal is to eliminate some of the gimmicks that can make the figures highly misleading and the budget process unnecessarily complex and unclear..