I know I’m not alone in feeling that September is when the ‘New Year’ always started for me. From grade school right through Grad school, getting ready for the new year meant new school supplies and new school clothes. And it meant making sure my library card was up to date.

Now, many students will confront the continued reality of not ‘going’ to school at all. This new year might include haggling to stake out a place at home where they can set up computers and focus on whatever teaching schools are offering. Whatever people get that is ‘new’ will not include that shiny first day of school effect.

For retirees and all of us who now find ourselves less involved externally than we ordinarily would be, this is a great time to more deeply familiarize ourselves with our two major library systems: The Seattle Public Library (SPL) and the King County Library System (KCLS). Their wide range of online offerings and resources even include conversations with ‘real live’ librarians.

So I asked two of my favorite librarians to kick off the ‘New Year’ with us. Featured Resource essayist Nancy Slote, Older Adults Program Manager, SPL, spent 2019 getting to know members of the region’s vibrant aging community. Her mission was to learn about their needs so that SPL could craft programs that served them. She shares many of the gifts and goals of libraries in general, and provides links to library resources to help us care for ourselves and our democracy from our homes.

When I have my Interesting Conversation with Wendy Pender, Older Adults Program Coordinator with KCLS, on Thursday, September 10 at 11:00 AM, she will have just returned from her annual motorcycle trip. I know she will have fascinating stories about what she saw and learned on the road. Wendy is the person responsible for presenting the Wisdom Cafés that Dori Gillam and I lead for KCLS, and is among the pioneering librarians who see older adults as important patrons for libraries.

Another important resource for people who are experiencing cognitive loss and those who care for and about them is publication, on September 22, of The Elderwise Way – A Different Approach to Life with Dementia.

Written by Elderwise co-founder Sandy Sabersky and NWCCA Associate Director Ruth Neuwald Falcon, this deeply insightful book will make a difference in the lives of those who read it, whether or not they are dealing directly with dementia. The e-book is available now and you can pre-order the print version on Amazon.

In the Jewish Faith, fall is when the High Holiday cycle takes us from celebrating the ‘New Year’ to a deeper exploration of our lives and what we need to do to forgive and be forgiven in order to create a better world for ourselves and others..

I always liked the way the world and my faith seemed to match in honoring the fall as the opportunity to start again. May this New Year provide you with meaning, purpose and continued learning.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. 
Rebecca