About “52 Shades of Graying”

In 1943, doctors told my parents I would probably never walk, talk or go to school. I have cerebral palsy. Today, at 83, I walk and talk with difficulty, and I get around The Pillars of Prospect Park, the Minneapolis senior living community where I live, on a mobility scooter.

Between those two facts sit a journalism degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 30 years in corporate communication at what is now Foremost Farms USA (10 of them as vice president, when the company ranked in the Fortune 500), 14 published books about disability awareness and disability employment, 42 years of marriage with my wife, Pam, and more than 128 short stories about growing older.

Those 128 stories are what you’ll find here.

The Stories

Each “52 Shades of Graying” story runs about six minutes (in text and in professional audio). Each follows a fictional older adult through a moment many of us recognize: Trevor counting out $3.84 at a Hardee’s counter, Lisa on slide six of a presentation nobody is listening to, Marlon brushing red dust from his shoes before a dinner with a host who wouldn’t look him in the face.

Each story closes with a takeaway tip and a discussion question about ageism, ableism or another step into well-being later in life.

The stories are fiction. The experiences behind them are not. Most grew out of what I’ve lived through as a person with a lifelong disability, as a corporate communication executive, and now as one of 300 residents working out what this stage of life means for us.

Why

Nearly 30 years of company journalism taught me something I still see every week at The Pillars. People rarely struggle for lack of information. They struggle when they can’t see themselves in the information they receive.

In the U.S. today, about 26 percent of adults over 65 live with some form of disability. Many of them acquired a disability late in life. Pamphlets and checklists don’t tell them what it feels like to be talked over at a doctor’s office or to hand the car keys to a daughter for the last time.

But a story can. When a reader sees herself in Trevor or Lisa, she often finds words for something she hadn’t said out loud before – and a reason to say it to someone she loves.

Growing Together

The stories are also built to be shared out loud. “52 Shades of Growing Together” is a curated, third generation set of my stories chosen to stimulate group conversation.

In November, 2026, Tom Rinkoski, a long-time community teacher in the Twin Cities, is leading a three-session OLLI course at The Pillars of Prospect Park. The course, “Stories That Transform and Unite Us,” is built around several of my stories. Tom’s role, which we call a “Wisdom Weaver,” is to set the stage where residents feel free to tell their own versions of a story and name the insight it holds for them.

Older adults carry decades of hard-won insight, and few settings ever ask for it. The goal of story sharing under the leadership of a Wisdom Weaver is simple: people leave feeling seen, a little less alone, and more aware of what they know. Belonging (feeling a part of a community) grows that way – one small conversation at a time.

A Gift

Many readers come to these stories through a son or daughter. For the parent who “already has everything,” a year of weekly stories can say what a birthday card usually can’t:

I see what both parents and their adult children are going through. Many of my stories address those issues and can provide a gateway to constructive family dialogue. Gift details are at .giftparent.com.

How I Use AI

Every story begins with something I lived or observed. At 83, with limited energy and a voice that doesn’t carry well on the phone, I rely on AI tools for much of the work involved in developing these stories. I’ve laid out exactly what AI does – and doesn’t do – here: How I Use AI

Other Work

The same approach shapes my series of career books for parents helping a youngster with a disability find meaningful work. Those books focus on the soft skills that often decide real hiring outcomes: confidence, communication, self-awareness, empathy, trust and adaptability. More about the aging and disability areas of my work is on LinkedIn.

Subscribe

Free subscribers receive four weekly stories by email. Paid subscribers ($67 a year) get 52 weekly stories plus access to my 128-story library and six “My Latest Legacy Nugget” letterheads for sharing a personal memory with family on birthdays, anniversaries and other special days.

A good place to start is “Marvin’s Rigid Reception.”

Jim Hasse
Hasse Communication Counseling, LLC
“Sharing Stories to Transform Lives”