Happy Birthday to Us!

October is PRIME's birthday month, and this October, we turn 17. My sales manager joked that next year, we'll be legal. But in publication years, 17 is a bit of a milestone. When I started with this publication 13 years ago, which was formerly called Senior Prime Times, we were one of two monthlies serving the information needs of the senior population in the Pioneer Valley. Over the years the needs of our readers changed, and the focus of our publication adapted. Recognizing the uptick to more active lifestyles and attitudes among the elders in the Valley, we dropped the "senior" from our masthead, and became simply, Prime Times. In 2000, we dropped the word "Times" completely, and became simply, PRIME. Along the way we lost one competing publication, and picked up another. And as of right now, PRIME once again stands alone as the only free monthly publication dedicated to the issues and needs of the boomer and mature readers in the Pioneer Valley. We hope you enjoy or product as much as we've enjoyed serving you this past 17 years. And speaking of age, I have to admit that working on this month's feature story on ageism in the workplace got me thinking about my own perceptions of age, adaptability, and attitude. You see, most of my colleagues in the News Department here are young enough to be my children, and I often joke about being the "old chick" in the department. But I've learned that perhaps, that's demonstrating a bit of ageism about myself. How we think of ourselves as workers, how we manage or skills, how we adapt to changes in our workplace seem to be far more important, according to Bill Sklandany, vice president of RetirementJobs.com, than our actual number of birthdays. His advice put me in mind of something I heard once when I was priviledged to cover a local appearance by author Gail Sheehy. "Just start from now," she said, referring to mid-life women facing changes in their relationships. Perhaps that's advice we now should all take to heart in the face of new work and retirement expectations under today's economy. We need to stop acting our age! Debbie Gardner PRIME Editor dgardner@reminderpublications.com