Football, Family & Faint Hope for Fall
September is here, and you know what that means: we pretend it’s fall, crank up the football, and pray we don’t pass out walking to the mailbox. As a lifelong Alabamian, I’ve made peace with the fact that our version of autumn is basically summer...
Have a Woke and a Smile
I don’t get it! BOOMers, we are the first fully mass-media marketed-to generation. TV didn’t join the party until we were the children of the 50s. For most of us, Mr. Potato Head was the first toy sold on television. All hell broke loose from...
Great Smoky Mountain Hospitality
Record high temperatures have blanketed the Carolinas. We find ourselves apologizing for bringing a sweltering inferno with us from Alabama. But we’ll cool down soon. Our railway car on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad is air-conditioned. And they serve cold beverages too. We stop by...
How to Keep Your Retirement On Track in a World of Low Returns
As a retiree, are you at risk for outliving your income? A serious question for serious times. Recently, several key assumptions traditionally used in retirement income planning are being challenged by leading financial industry experts. Are retirees who made those traditional assumptions still okay? For...
Seasons of Showing Up
If August felt like the warm-up act, September is the main event. Down here in Alabama, we like to pretend fall is in the air—lighting cinnamon candles while the thermometer reads 92°, sipping pumpkin coffee in shorts, and convincing ourselves a crisp breeze is just...
Food For Longevity
In the seaside town of Ikaria, Greece — a place where people routinely live into their 90s and 100s — it’s common to see neighbors chatting over fresh bread, beans simmering on the stove, and vegetables picked that morning from the garden. They aren’t following...
From Bucket List to Booked!
For years, Tom and Linda talked about taking a river cruise through Europe. They’d watch travel shows, collect brochures, and even bookmark itineraries online. But between work, caring for aging parents, and the everyday busyness of life, “someday” never seemed to arrive. Then last September,...
The Joy of Saying NO
On a recent Tuesday, Martha Reynolds sat staring at her calendar. It was barely the second week of September, and already every square was jammed — book club on Monday, a neighbor’s luncheon on Wednesday, babysitting the grandkids on Friday, volunteering at church Saturday morning....
COVER PROFILE: Debbie Lynn
Debbie’s story is one of grit, grace, and grounded purpose. Raised on a 300-acre farm in Pike Road, she spent her childhood immersed in nature, learning independence and imagination that would shape her for life. Horses became a lifelong passion, influencing her values and eventually...
To the AUM Forest Trail
Enjoying an urban forest with meandering walking paths or hiking trails is not always a luxury available to city dwellers hoping to briefly escape the fast pace of metropolitan life. Fortunately, the Auburn University at Montgomery campus is home to such an inviting green haven...
Planning For Your Future (Part 3): Transferring Assets at Death Through a Will
“Planning For Your Future (Part 2)” (June 2025 BOOM Magazine) focused on assets transferring automatically and transferring your assets through a revocable living trust. Assets pass outside your will if you have beneficiaries or joint owners listed on assets such as financial accounts and insurance...
Mayhurst Estate Planting Seeds in a Dry and Weary Land
In a previous feature, I remarked that B&Bs are “hit or miss.” Well, I’m happy to report on a B&B that’s, in my book, a big hit. Driving there is also a treat, at least when you get on Highway 81 up in the Shenandoah...
Science: Older is Better
Question! If you got paid every time someone said “you’re not getting older, you’re getting better”, how stuffed would your childhood piggy bank be? No matter how it is said, we hear it as “you’re getting older and you’re not getting better. I am here...
Finding Your Encore Career
You see them everywhere. In supermarkets, in big-box hardware stores, at ballparks. They are the once-retired who have returned to work. Some work from home as consultants or have found employment as insurance salespeople, proofreaders or financial managers. At the top are executives who believed...
Beach Week Burnout
We just got back from a week in Seagrove Beach, smack in the middle of 30A—and I need a nap, a chiropractor, and maybe a silent retreat. As empty nesters, my wife and I had this vision: a sweet beach week with the kids and...