What if getting older made life simpler, not smaller? That’s the thread we follow as we move from Chicago’s weather whiplash to the quiet freedoms that come with age: flexible plans, honest rest, and the courage to let the map change without calling it failure. We talk candidly about health—finding a cancer lump in a dream, doing workouts through chemo, managing a rare connective tissue disorder—and how reframing the body from enemy to expert messenger shifts everything. It’s not sugarcoating; it’s choosing a lens that helps you heal and live.

We also open the door on home and money decisions that don’t fit the old script. A tiny high-rise condo we bought in 2001 as an investment is now the heartbeat of our days. Property taxes surprise us more than California ever did. A job ends, another one appears, and an unexpected “dream job” takes root at the cathedral. That pattern shows up again and again: most things work out, just not on our timeline. The proof is in the moves we didn’t plan—Texas, Denmark, Oregon, back to California, then Chicago—and the friendships and routines that bloomed in each place.

Underneath it all is a softer stance toward time. Rest is no longer a reward you earn with exhaustion; it’s a need you honor before life hollows you out. Worry gets called by its true name: a thief of the present for a future that hasn’t happened. And resilience? It grows quietly, in the daily showing up, in the nap you actually take, in the way you tell your younger self, you’re doing better than you think. If you’re craving clarity, warmth, and a few hard-won laughs about aging, health, and home, you’re in the right place.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs the reminder, and leave a quick review—what’s one belief about aging you’re ready to rewrite?