On stage, at the beach and in the mountains: New, enriching and sometimes life-changing experiences wait for you in the new year. Here are three play-cations, each a unique and original journey that promises not only an adventure but a way to reconnect with yourself and the world through art, camaraderie and peaceful solitude.

‘Come From Away...Read more

Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 different diets.”

But 5 pounds would come off and then invariably reappear, said Bucklew, 75, a public transit retiree in Ocean View, Delaware. Nothing seemed to make much...Read more

Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 different diets.”

But 5 pounds would come off and then invariably reappear, said Bucklew, 75, a public transit retiree in Ocean View, Delaware. Nothing seemed to make much...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- One day my left foot hurt for no good reason. I stood up to shake off the pain and tweaked my right Achilles tendon, so I headed for the medicine cabinet, bent over like an ape because of a stiff back.

Actually, I lied.

It wasn't one day. It's pretty much every day.

None of this is severe or serious, and I'm not complaining at ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- One day my left foot hurt for no good reason. I stood up to shake off the pain and tweaked my right Achilles tendon, so I headed for the medicine cabinet, bent over like an ape because of a stiff back.

Actually, I lied.

It wasn't one day. It's pretty much every day.

None of this is severe or serious, and I'm not complaining at ...Read more

In her house in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Barbara Meade said, “there are walkers and wheelchairs and oxygen and cannulas all over the place.”

Barbara, 82, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so a portable oxygen tank accompanies her everywhere. Spinal stenosis limits her mobility, necessitating the walkers and wheelchairs and considerable...Read more

In her house in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Barbara Meade said, “there are walkers and wheelchairs and oxygen and cannulas all over the place.”

Barbara, 82, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so a portable oxygen tank accompanies her everywhere. Spinal stenosis limits her mobility, necessitating the walkers and wheelchairs and considerable...Read more

For the better part of this year my brain rejected that my father could not get the care he needed at home.

He has advanced Parkinson’s, and it took a turn for the worse early this spring. My siblings and I were convinced this flare up would be treated like the others in the recent past — a short hospital stay, a stint in rehab to regain ...Read more

LONDON — Frailty refers to a person’s mental and physical resilience, or their ability to bounce back and recover from events like illness and injury.

“Frailty is regarded as a syndrome, and a syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that helps recognize frailty which includes things like being slower,” says Dr Nasrin Razzaq, GP lead ...Read more

The fact that Dick Van Dyke turned 100 on Dec. 13 is remarkable enough. But the entertainment icon hasn’t simply made it to the century mark; he’s remained purposefully engaged in life and with those around him: acting, dancing, mentoring younger performers, and spreading joy to millions.

Van Dyke is a reminder that aging does not diminish ...Read more