Louisa Rogers

Last week's leak of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion on Roe v Wade took me back more than four decades, when, in the space of six months, I had two abortions. I hope my story will help people understand the right to an abortion isn't only a political or moral issue, but also one of kindness. After a day for honoring mothers, it's also important to honor those who had the courage to decide not to be mothers.
In 1976, I was 25, living in Vancouver, Canada, and in love with my then boyfriend, the ma...

Ten years ago, my husband and I were visiting the popular archeological ruins of San Agustin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Colombia. One part of the ruin was a grassy slope of about 100 yards. As Barry and I stood at the top, I suddenly imagined rolling down it. Without hesitating, I lay face down, stretched my arms above me, and took off. Over and over I rolled, squealing and shrieking like a six-year-old. At the bottom, as I sat up grinning, a bit dizzy, I suddenly noticed sever...

I got off Skype and shook my head in amazement. During my English-Spanish conversation hour, my compañera, Monica, a woman who teaches high school Spanish in a small town in Kansas, had told me how not only had she grown up with nine siblings, but she also had two other sisters who had died in childhood.
“My family of five kids was large and sometimes competitive,” I replied. “But I can’t imagine nine brothers and sisters.”
Family size is just one subject Monica and I have discussed in the 6 ...

I blame it on my orthopedic surgeon who told me, 30 years after my skydiving accident and with barely any cartilage left, I shouldn’t run anymore. (A sunny day, with a view of Mt. Rainier, the jump was stunning — right until the landing.) I broke my ankle into so many pieces that he told me he put together only the fragments he could recognize.
I’m hardly alone. A few of my peers aren’t running anymore either, because we all need to protect our knees.
Running two marathons in the years after ...

Embarrassing but true: At 70, the age when people are supposed to be wise elders passing on their hard-earned insights to younger generations, I’m still vulnerable to an occasional “shame attack” — what Berkeley therapist Joan Gold, MA, MFT, describes as “a full-scale assault on the self [where] we lose track of our inner guidance.”
During one such recent attack, I managed to free myself from its grip within 2 hours. And when I say “grip,” I mean just that: a frame of mind so powerful and con...

A year ago, my father, who lives in an assisted-living facility, turned 100. I’ve never known anyone else that age, so it always seemed unattainable. But after watching how cheerful he’s been over the last year, becoming a centenarian seems not only possible, but maybe even desirable.
He isn’t alone, either. According to the World Economic Forum, there are over 500,000 centenarians in the world. In his book Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Dan Bu...

War, disease, poverty, natural disasters, and other forms of human suffering have existed throughout history. While in many ways modern life is much less difficult than it was for our ancestors, the world can still feel bleak at times. How can we create and sustain a sense of optimism and hope during challenging periods? The themes I’ve gathered here reflect timeless wisdom that people have used for centuries to overcome adversity. I offer them in a series of contrasting but rhythmic pairs, l...

Chaos without, chaos within, I thought when I read that our county health officer had ordered all residents to shelter at home, starting in mid-March, because of the coronavirus.
Within a day, friends throughout the state were on lockdown too. And within the week, so were family and friends around the country and around the world.
Because I’m a structured person (a Myers-Briggs type “J,” for those who follow personality types), I knew I had to create a sense of order or I’d be a mess.
So thro...

I’m 8 years old, trying to focus on what my tall, lanky, fourth-grade geography teacher Mr. Brow is saying. This is my first day in a new school (the bilingual Colegio Americano), a new city (Quito), and a new country (Ecuador).
Suddenly, apropos of nothing, I erupt into loud, noisy sobs. All the kids stare at me, wondering what’s going on. Mr. Brow frowns, obviously concerned. I can’t explain it myself, though this is hardly the first time I’ve started sobbing in class for no reason.
I’ve be...

“Hope you’re enjoying your vacation!” a friend wrote to me a few months ago. Over lunch on the patio of our Mexican home, I read her email to Barry, my husband. “Vacation?” he said. “Are you kidding?” Even though our friends know we have lived part-time in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Guanajuato for more than 17 years, many of them still seem to think we spend our days lolling on hammocks and drinking margaritas. Not quite!
Guanajuato is an artist’s dream. A vibrant city built up from a ...

I left my friend Lee’s apartment last week and practically skipped back to our home in Guanajuato, the UNESCO World Heritage City in central Mexico where Barry and I live for part of the year. “A new friend! I have a new friend!” I thought. I had forgotten how exciting it is to embark on a new friendship.
Unfortunately, making new friends as a retiree is not that common. One study revealed that nearly one-third of seniors say it has been at least 5 years since they developed a new friendship....

Recently my new health care provider asked me how many medications I took. “None,” I said.
“Wow, you’re easy.”
“What’s the average for a person my age?” I asked.
When she said “five,” that was an indicator to me that I’m on the right track. In fact, at 70, I’m healthier and fitter than I was 50 years ago, in large part because I’ve adopted the following strategies to stay in good health.
1. I Taught Myself To Cook
Growing up with three sisters, I wasn’t the “kitchen daughter” helping my mothe...

When I decided to give up smoking in my 20s, I resolved to enjoy my last cigarette the night before my birthday and turned my final smoke into a sacrament. I put The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" on my tinny record player, turned off the lights and sat in the dark, gazing at the slim cylindrical tip of my Marlboro until its last glowing ash faded. The ceremony was a fitting end to an era, since much of the attraction of smoking for me was not the taste but rather the ritual and romance...

To my mind, there are two ways to look at travel: The first and most common one is the outer journey, the destination we’re going to; and the second is the inner journey, what happens within as we move from one place to another. A good example of a book that explores the outer and inner journeys is the 2007 bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, in which the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, describes her visits to Italy, India, and Indonesia, but on a parallel track, the discoveries taking place within her.
I...