Transitions With Jean - Columns

Here is a follow-up to the last column and some feedback from readers: Dear Jean, I’ve always enjoyed your column but today when you were telling minimalist kids to take their parents’ stuff as a favor to the parents, I had to disagree with your advice. I only want my...

Do you need a little help understanding your parents? Sometimes, you just can’t figure them out. They hold on to everything they possess and just won’t let go. All their stuff is special to them, and they want you to want it. You don’t. In addition, they simply won’t...

One of the pleasures of my job is being able to speak at different gatherings about making the transition from the big family home. I enjoy it when folks share their ideas, hesitations, challenges, and solutions. I love hearing their stories. This is the time of the...

Summer is moving season. Today, you get advice from the most experienced mover around – me! Many of you know of my senior business. At Long’s Senior Transitions, we help folks make a change from their family home into their simplified new home, whether it is...

Have you fallen in your house? It can be a scary thing. There can be broken bones, bruises, or if you are lucky, just a bruised ego. But even the mildest of falls can still have long-term effects; it may cause you to become fearful of falling again. When that happens,...

Often, we don’t like to think about the future and what it will look like when we aren’t part of it. Me neither. But that day will eventually come. We have all seen families who are torn apart by decisions, or indecisions, that are made when the people left behind...

“Mom and Dad, when you die, we are just going to get a dumpster.” Have you said that to your parents? I hear it often, so it must be a popular thing to say. It is said kind of kiddingly, but really not. There are two sides to this story. First, there are the parents,...

Over the last fifteen years, since I became a senior move manager, I have seen a change in attitude with many of my customers. They are moving away. And it is a good thing! Thirty years five ago, when I first started working for my parents in the moving business,...

“Joy is like paint; if you don’t spread it around, it dries up!” Those are words of wisdom from my friend, Bobbie Thompson, from Eagle Point Senior Living. She always makes me smile. We were talking about the last two years, and January, and winter, and how it can...

As the holiday season is upon us, I look back on many wonderful memories of my mother-in-law, Emerald. At Christmas, Em would absolutely shine. It was her chance to fill stockings, make cookies and give gifts. Most importantly, it was her chance to show love the best...