Going mainstream

My 40-something-year-old friend received a call from her husband while she was at work.

“Your yoga pants arrived,” he said, referring to a package that came that day in the mail.

“I didn’t order any yoga pants,” she replied, wondering what it could be.

Arriving home that night she found a 6-by-8-inch box with a side view of an attractive woman in workout gear walking down a city street.

A sticker on the box said “YOGA PANTS APPROVED.”

As she peeled off the sticker, the box pulled apart revealing what was under the yoga pants. The image was of the same woman wearing Depends.

Inside the box were two pairs of Silhouette Active Fit briefs, one black and the other beige. The mailing was a marketing device by Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Depends-brand undergarments.

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Traveling with medication

It’s not unheard of for foreigners to be detained overseas for mailing out or bringing in the same medicine they use at home. The ever-increasing number of seniors traveling abroad need to be aware of that possibility and what they can do to prevent it from happening to them.

Witness, for example, a recent news report about an American executive for Toyota who was arrested and detained in Japan for having her father mail her oxycodone pills. The narcotic painkiller is tightly controlled in Japan.

Overseas travel for seniors (age 60 and up) is on the rise, according to the U.S. CommerceDepartment. Between 1993 and 2012 the percentage of retirees traveling abroad rose from 9.7 percent to 13 percent. And, while seniors represent just over 13 percent of the population, they consume 40 percent of the prescription drugs and over 35 percent of all overthe counter drugs, according to the findings of a recent survey.

If you are taking medication and plan to travel overseas, here are some important tips.

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What else isn’t she telling me?

Every morning while walking my dog, I call my mother from my cellphone.

We talk about many things, but in particular my mom’s side of the conversation focuses on my sisters and their families and how she and my dad are doing. In our conversation I hear about the outcomes of my parents’ doctor appointments, what they had for dinner the night before and what’s new with my sisters’ children.

But the other day I was thrown for a loop. I called my mother at our usual time. She asked that I call her back as the physical therapist was there with my dad. So I went along walking Rolo, waiting for her call.
 
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