Recently, I was conducting a telephone interview with a female resident of one of ABHOW's continuing care retirement communities. As I usually do with sources who are women (and particularly women of a certain age) I waited until things were wrapping up before I asked her age.

She happily shared it and we ended the interview. Then about 10 minutes later, she called back with a request that she said she hoped I wouldn't find too silly.

"We've had three new gentlemen move into the community," she said. "And I was hoping that you wouldn't need to use my age for the story you're writing." The "if you know what I mean" was only implied, but I assured her that it was not necessary for us to use her age and thus cramp her style with the new arrivals.

It was yet another example that no matter what our age, most of us are in search of a few basic things, and companionship is one of the biggies.

We have the pleasure at Signal Hill to deal with a wide variety of people through the stories we write, and one of the real joys is being able to highlight the common threads that run through all generations.