I've been terrified of dying all my life. Now that I'm in my sixties, I'm even more frightened. So why on earth would I decide to jump out of an airplane?

Since my earliest years, I've been told I couldn't catch a tune in a gallon bucket. Nothing scared me more than singing in front of another human being, let alone an audience. So, what prompted me to take a class in which I would be required to do just that? Why do so many of us take other people's judgments about our abilities as fact when we could, if provided with a kind and generous teacher, learn to do nearly anything?

My father was a dentist, so I was restricted to one sweet a day. But our house was stuffed with candies, cookies, cakes, ice cream, and other treats. That's the world we're all living in today ... filled with temptations that constantly assault us, even as we're advised to indulge only in moderation. Which is a good way to drive a person nuts. (Deliciously rich and perfectly salted nuts, coated in the richest, darkest chocolate ...)

Why would anyone give up a cushy summer job in an air-conditioned office for a sweaty marathon waiting tables at a busy Howard Johnson's ruled by a hard-hearted jerk of a manager? Why do so many of us, when we're figuring out who we are, envy the lives of our classmates, which seem so much more desirable than our own?

Why do we take so long to appreciate our parents for who they really are instead of scorning them for not being who we wish they were? Here's my version of a Father's Day tribute, a few weeks early ...

Dating is hell for everyone. But if you're a feminist in your sixties dating men in their seventies who mostly still view women the way they were taught to view them in the 1950s, you might find yourself wondering if you should spend New Year's Eve with a guy who claims to value you for your intelligence and independence, only to discover what he actually wants to do is tie you to the bed and punish you for being "naughty."

When I was young, my parents warned me against going anywhere alone. But how was I to accomplish anything I wanted to accomplish in this world if I stayed home ... or waited for some guy to accompany and protect me? Just as my parents feared, some pretty bad things happened. Today, we tell our daughters they can do anything a man can do. Yet the #MeToo movement has filled them with the same fears of sexual assault my parents instilled in me. What are young women supposed to do with all these contradictions?

Come with me as I hunt for my grandparents' graves in the wilds of Queens, NY ... and discover how close my grandmother might have come to being one of those young seamstresses who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Let's hear it for Jewish socialists like my grandfather, labor unions, and cemeteries!

My grandparents' engagement photos, Joshua on the left and Pauline on the right