Home Together

About the Book

Frank Smythe, Jr. faces day one of retirement from his job of thirty-five years. He must now adjust to being Home Together with his wife Mavis who enjoys a personal renewal from the success of her recently established business after life as a traditional wife and mother. Frank Smythe, Jr. faces day one of retirement from his job of thirty-five years. He must now adjust to being Home Together with his wife Mavis who enjoys a personal renewal from the success of her recently established business after life as a traditional wife and mother. You will meet Frank and Mavis and their friends and family through the medium of their very intimate diaries. We learn they are real people, experiencing pleasure, passions and pain as they cope with each other but also problems typical of their age cohort such as aging parents and Alzheimer's, offspring struggling through single parenthood, same sex relationships and the life changing illness of a treasured grand daughter. On a very personal level we observe Frank's reaction to an inability to 'get it up' and 'keep it up' and what happens when both Frank and Mavis find attractions outside their marriage. The story builds to a climax where their hard won but fragile coalition almost crumbles, but not quite. Two people who have raised a family and lived together for so long have invariably built a few bridges between their separate souls. Those invisible bridges can and do carry the load. Sixty in 2005. That will be the age of the first-born Baby Boomers now on the precipice of retirement. It is estimated there are 78 million North Americans aged 40-60. Being 'home together' will be a brand new experience for thousands of retirees. Never in their relationship have they had to spend so much time together. Before they could escape to work or looking after the kids. Now? No excuses. When they once swore for better or for worse the vows didn't include twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

About the Author

John Brown has been carefully observing adjustments to retirement since leaving his position of twenty-six years as Professor in the School of Business at the University of Alberta.