THE THIRD THIRD

Claire Mitchel
Claire Mitchel welcomes letters. Write to her in care of The Miami Herald, PMB 80, 8209 N. Pine Island Rd., Tamarac, Fla. 33321.

Top Story

THE THIRD THIRD | CLAIRE MITCHEL

Claire Mitchel ends weekly Miami Herald column after 24 years

For more than 24 years, Claire Mitchel laid her life, feelings and opinions bare for all to see in her beloved column, The Third Third.

But at age 88, Claire Mitchel will stop writing the column for The Miami Herald and do what she's been encouraging her readers to do for nearly a quarter of a century: Make the most out of life, each and every day, as they move deeper and deeper into The Third Third.

COMMENTARY

Living near kin has advantages

My son, Jeff, and his wife are trying an experiment. They live in Israel and they got an apartment to be closer to their grandchildren. Their son and his wife and their three children are in India right now, but my son will get to see his daughter and her family much more.
COMMENTARY

Columnist confronts new change in life

Nobody likes change. We don't like the unpredictable, especially in The Third Third. But there's no escaping it.
COMMENTARY

Columnist glad readers `get' her message

BY CLAIRE MITCHEL
I've been sitting in a bed at a rehab center, pouring over letters from my readers. I have received so many, I'm sorry that I can't send a personal message. But I want you to know how deeply moved I am by your cards and letters of good wishes and to find that so many of you ``get'' the message I've been trying to convey for 24 years.
COMMENTARY

Senior day care win-win for all

We as a population are growing so much older, trying to cope with the new conditions we face -- like dementia. While it's showing up in younger and younger people, it is usually associated with the elderly.
COMMENTARY

Be accompanied on doctor visits

Why would I want to bring someone with me when I visit my doctor? Because it's recommended for those in the Third Third. At first, I didn't want another person listening to a private conversation. But then I thought about how easy it is to get distracted at the doctor's office.
COMMENTARY

When Long Key Natural Area beckons, heed the call

Long Key is a new park on a Davie site many of us have visited before. Several centuries ago, it was used as a central meeting place by the Tequesta and Seminole Indians. We remember it as the familiar site of the Kapok Tree Restaurant, now razed and returned to nature.
COMMENTARY

Family bonding on the high seas

It rained the entire time except for a few minutes, but there we were, a few hundred folks out for a good time. And we had it anyway, b'gosh. A fine time was had by all aboard the Norwegian Sky.
COMMENTARY

Jobless relatives offered an escape

What do you feel when a grandchild loses her job? I was sad and helpless when I heard that my granddaughter, an education director for an Ohio museum, had been laid off -- her husband had been laid off just a few months before.