When veteran news anchor Mike Ahern began his broadcast career at WISH-TV, the world – and the industry – was much different.

For starters, he wondered how they were going to “fill” 30 minutes of air time during the evening news. The staff numbered slightly more than a half dozen. There were no “live” shots as everything had to be filmed in the field and brought back to the studio for processing. At least the competition was slim – only four television stations were on the Indianapolis airwaves in 1967. During the course of 37 years, Mike Ahern became the friendly face that delivered history as it was made and provided the lead in to “Uncle Walter” (aka CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite) during some of the most poignant moments of the 20^th Century.

By now the story is familiar. A gray wave of aging boomers is crossing into their 60s, hitting retirement age, morphing suddenly into senior citizens, and bringing with them a new era of demographically determined dependency and despair. We're trading baby strollers for walkers and wheelchairs.

Don't believe it. The sixty-somethings headed our way will invent an entirely new stage of life — the encore years — between the end of middle adulthood and anything resembling old age and retirement. We brand them the young-old, or the working-retired. Or maybe just the oxymoronic years.

On one hand, these new-stagers are implored to hang on to their fast-fading youth — 60 is the new 40, we're told. On the other, my pharmacy offers a "senior discount" to anyone over 60. It's either clinging to lost youth or accepting premature aging.

What's a midlife crisis? It's the stuff of jokes and stereotypes -- the time in life when you do outrageous, impractical things like quit a job impulsively, buy a red sports car, or dump your spouse. For years, midlife crisis conjured those images. But these days, the old midlife crisis is more likely to be called a midlife transition -- and it's not all bad.

Those of us who have pets understand how integral they are to our daily lives -- our happiness, connectedness, or sense of purpose and family. Our pets are ever faithful dwellers of our households and sometimes the only being in the home that will listen to us patiently as we ramble on and on about the events of the day -- while receiving a little belly rub.