HOW TO AGE GRACEFULLY

An author offers a bittersweet look at growing older in her new memoir.

The realities of aging are often more complicated than many people admit. Presumably, it’s the reason why Oscar-winning actor Meryl Streep once tartly observed that “aging is not for the faint of heart.” For most people, it’s something they’d rather not think about until reality intrudes, as Scoblic’s smart, sharply written collection of essays suggests. The book opens with her entering a senior independent living facility in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2022,after the death of her husband, and after taking one fall too many. She describes her new situation as an unsettling, disorienting reality of constant adjustments, especially regarding physical matters. When the author sighs, “I miss my old body terribly,” many readers will sigh right along with her—because everyone will eventually make those adjustments themselves. The same rules apply to memory and concentration: “Silent, taunting Wordle and smug Spelling Bee destroyed my confidence, reminding me of what my mind once had been,” she notes at one point. However, she also effectively characterizes her new world as offering her an unexpected freedom to enjoy things for their own sake: “I write only when I want to write, and I make my own deadlines,” she exults. “I don’t have to worry about anyone else, about making dinner, about who’s coming over.” Freed from the pressures of making a living, she can go about her craft and enjoy smaller triumphs; indeed, that’s the main takeaway of this book: Enjoy what you have, even if you’re faint of heart. Over the course of this collection, readers will find plenty of relatable moments, anchored in tightly written, two- and three-page essays and broken up by relevant nuggets of conversation throughout. If half of all late-in-life remembrances were so well crafted and well disciplined, it would be cause for celebration, making this a valuable read for aspiring memoirists.

An engaging snapshot of the challenging but rewarding ups and downs of aging.