by Kevin Banet | Jul 7, 2025 | Reminisce, Senior stories
A Tool of Memory There’s a big, heavy old monkey wrench in my toolbox—rusted at the jaw, its handle darkened from years of use. We call it “Uncle Pete’s wrench.” It doesn’t get much action anymore. I keep that wrench not for its function, but for its memory. When I...
by Kevin Banet | Jul 4, 2025 | History, Holidays
Old age didn’t stop Benjamin Franklin. (AI image) In the movie National Treasure, treasure-seeker Nicholas Cage discovers a pair of antique spectacles with multiple lenses—clearly designed, we’re told, by Benjamin Franklin. When used to peer at the back of the...
by Kevin Banet | Jul 1, 2025 | Reminisce, Senior stories
Fifty years had passed, but the campground at Pine Lake State Park felt almost untouched—quiet pines rustling in the breeze, folding chairs in circles, and echoing laughter. Carl Beaumont looked out over the familiar faces of his siblings, cousins, and now grandkids....
by Kevin Banet | Apr 19, 2025 | mental health, Senior stories
Dementia claimed his wife’s life The older man, somewhere in his 80s, waved and smiled. I was a bit taken aback. It was a warm Good Friday afternoon, and I was out walking the dog—just following my normal path, expecting the usual silence from a stranger. And so...
by Kevin Banet | Jun 16, 2024 | Holidays, Senior stories
When I was single, I had a ho-hum attitude toward friends and family members who watched their children grow up. But when I became a father, my attitude was flipped on its head. After I got married, I remember when our only boy reached the age of about six, and...
