Exciting news: I’ve been invited to join Dr. Bill Thomas’s national Second Wind Tour May 5-8. Columbus, Chicago, Detroit, Ann Arbor and Minneapolis, here I come! Speakers, multimedia, film, music, rock & roll bus! Thomas is an articulate, charismatic geriatrician and eldercare expert who thinks big. I first encountered him through his TED talk, which got my attention not just for its positive take on late life but because it foregrounds ageism. I contacted his Changing Aging site last spring but got not very far. Two weeks ago Thomas re-tweeted a quote from my Senior Planet talk that night (“Fear of dying is human, fear of aging is cultural”). I wrote suggesting he might like Yo, Is This Ageist? The next morning, a tweet in response: “It’s official, I want to marry this blog!” and an invitation to the kickoff event in NYC on March 31. And yesterday, an invitation to join him and his team on the road for its swing through the midwest. The tour is to promote Thomas’ new book, Second Wind: Navigating the Passage into a Slower, Deeper and More Connected Life, and also to kickstart a national conversation about what he calls the baby boom’s “second tumultuous coming of age.” Thomas thinks my anti-ageism message is perfectly aligned with his vision and I’m very glad he does.
Way to go Ashton! You inspire me. I am scheduled for uterine cancer surgery tomorrow, and at nearly 69, view this as a transition to a healthier stage of life, one free of all the hangups that have fettered me in the past. I hope the tour makes it out to the Left Coast eventually.
This is so exciting! I can’t wait to hear you speak in Minneapolis.