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Come with me into the foreign land of the old. Get personal essays examining what it’s *really* like to grow [b]older, and pick up practical writing advice along the way, all from a veteran book coach and Web pioneer.

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🎙️ God and Death Sum Up Season 5 of the Podcast

Season 5 of the [B]OLDER podcast wraps up: 50 years of marriage, a 92-year-old's unexpected death, cellular research on aging, religion for a non-believer, UNretirement and more.

Debbie Weil

Jul 21, 2023

11-year-old Ruthie and her Ba (aka Sam) set out on a hike in Grindelwald in June ‘23.

🎙️ Listen to the Season 5 Finale of the [B]OLDER podcast. The links below go to each individual episode.

A highpoint of this season was a special grandchild trip to the Swiss Alps that my husband Sam Harrington and I took with Ruthie (11). Last summer, we took two other grandchildren to Iceland: Dorothea (12) and Lius (10). We have three more grandchildren to go.

Reviewing Season 5 of [B]OLDER

But so much more has happened during Season 5 of [B]OLDER:

Sam and I celebrated our 50th anniversary in February while we were in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico (there’s a great episode where we talk about that)
Right after that my 92-year-old mother died unexpectedly, prompting a lot of memories, much appreciation, and a blunt reminder of life’s finitude.
I re-ran episodes with some of our most popular guests who talked about psychedelic therapy and about Covid’s place in the history of plagues.
I talked to new guests about cellular research on aging, about helping elderly parents plan ahead, what UNretirement is really like, and one of my all-time favorite interviews: a conversation with famed NYT health columnist Jane Brody about what she learned from a half century at The New York Times.
And finally, as I get older I find myself increasingly interested in religious communities. Renowned faith and culture writer Jonathan Merritt eloquently explained God and religion to me, a non-church person.

In this wrap-up episode you’ll hear Sam (hopefully not slurping his coffee) teasing me about “jumping right in.” He doesn’t like that podcast expression. I do. At the end of the episode he mentions “jumping out.” Ha!

The podcast will be back in fall ‘23
This is the finale of Season 5 of the [B]OLDER podcast. We’ll be back in the fall. In the meantime, you can listen to over 100 past episodes at debbieweil.com/podcast or on your favorite podcast app.
Stay tuned for more Substack dispatches
Look for more Substack essays from me this summer. At 71, I’m taking my first steps into the land of the old (boldly or so I tell myself) and I want to report back.