Life after 60 brings new opportunities—and plenty of new questions.
The Senior Living Podcast grew out of Bill Corbett's Saturday morning talk radio show on WDRC, where conversations about aging, retirement, family, and everyday life quickly revealed something important: seniors and the people who love them are looking for practical answers, fresh ideas, and honest conversations about the years ahead.
On each episode, Bill talks with interesting experts, professionals, authors, and people with experiences worth sharing. Topics range from health and wellness, retirement and finances to relationships, downsizing, staying socially connected, finding purpose, helping aging parents, and making the most of life after 60.
Some episodes solve everyday problems. Others introduce fascinating people and ideas. All of them share the same goal: helping seniors—and their families—navigate the years ahead with greater confidence, purpose, and enjoyment.
Born in Connecticut and Massachusetts but created for listeners everywhere, The Senior Living Podcast is about much more than growing older.
It's about continuing to live.
Ideas • Stories • Inspiration for the Years Ahead
Download an episode, share it with someone you care about, and join us for the next conversation.
Have expertise, an experience, or a story that could help our listeners? Bill welcomes potential guests and topic suggestions. Contact him at (860) 305-1838 or billcorbett@yahoo.com
Are we ever too old to return to something we once loved—or to begin an entirely new chapter of our lives?
In this inspiring episode, I sit down with Nancy Hopkins, known to many as The Snake Lady, whose story is a wonderful reminder that our passions don't necessarily disappear when life gets busy. Sometimes they simply wait for us.
Nancy has been a nature lover and avid outdoorswoman throughout her life. In the early 2000s, she developed an environmental education program focused on native New England snakes, sharing with audiences the important—and often misunderstood—role snakes play in our ecosystem.
But life had other plans.
Nancy stepped away from environmental education to focus on raising her children and later spent 20 years working as an optician. Yet her fascination with snakes never disappeared. She always hoped that someday she would return to being a voice for these remarkable creatures.
And she did.
Now, decades later, Nancy has returned to her passion in an entirely new way—as a children's author. Her book, Sassy the Green Tree Boa, allows her to introduce a new generation of children and families to the animals she has spent so much of her life appreciating and defending.
Our conversation originally centered on snakes, children, and helping families overcome their fears of reptiles. But Nancy's personal journey carries another powerful message—especially for those of us in the second half of life.
There doesn't have to be an expiration date on a dream.
Nancy's story reminds us that retirement and our senior years don't have to mean stepping away from meaningful work. They can provide an opportunity to rediscover interests we once put aside, pursue creative dreams, write the book we always wanted to write, volunteer, teach, mentor, or finally explore something we've been thinking about for years.
In this episode, you'll hear Nancy's infectious enthusiasm for snakes, nature, education, and children—and discover what can happen when someone decides that it's not too late to return to what they love.
Whether you're 55, 65, 75, or beyond, perhaps there's something you've been thinking about returning to yourself.
Welcome to the Bill Corbett Podcast. Today's episode begins with a parenting question that many moms and dads can probably relate to. My child wants a snake, but I don't like them. What should I do? For some parents, the thought of bringing a snake into the house is enough to cause immediate anxiety. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's uncertainty, or perhaps it's simply a lack of understanding about animals. Children, on the other hand, are naturally curious. They ask questions, explore the world around them, and sometimes develop interests that challenge our own comfort zones. So how do we respond when our child's fascination collides with our own fears? To help us explore this topic, I'm delighted to welcome a very special guest. Nancy Hopkins, known to many throughout New England as the snake lady, is an avid outdoors woman and lifelong nature enthusiast. In the early 2000s, she developed her own environmental education program England snakes. Over the past three decades, Nancy has delivered educational presentations to audiences of all ages, helping thousands of people better understand the secret important roles they play within our ecosystem. Today, Nancy continues to share her passion through a new generation of educational tools, children's literature. Her latest book, Sassy Green Tree Boa, introduces young readers to the fascinating world of and adventure. Whether you're a parent who's uncomfortable around snakes, a child who's begging for one as a pet, or simply someone who's curious to learn more, today's conversation may challenge some long-held beliefs and replace fear with understanding. Listen in as we welcome Nancy Hopkins, the snake lady to the program. Welcome to the Bill Corbett Podcast, Creating Cooperative Kids, offering tips for parents interested in increasing the cooperation from their children and teens. Bill is answering questions from his email box, so please feel free to email him at bill@cooperativekids.com. You can also find many of his resources at billcorbettsbooks.com. Don't forget to subscribe, follow, share, and like this podcast. Here is Bill Corbett. Kids are born with no fear. Unless they're taught to fear them, their curiosity gets the best of them. And it's something fascinating and unique. So the kids love that about it. The problem comes in is when you have parents who through the years have been conditioned to hate and fear reptiles, especially snakes, that they put unrealistic expectations on their children where they should just kind of embrace that the kids are curious and want to learn about reptiles. So it. Sounds like you're saying that parents sometimes project their fears on their -. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. That happens more often than not actually. I was at the center yesterday. There was this little girl in her pink dress with her parents and one of the keepers was walking around with one of our snakes. She just went right up to that snake and was petting it like a puppy. And it shows you the mom and dad just stood there and let her do it and said, she just loves every animal. It just kind of proves itself that unless they teach that child fear, the kids are uninhibited. They love them. They don't see them as evil or anything. That's a good point. So let's talk directly about the problem. The child comes home, they might have seen a snake at school or they went on an exploration trip through school. Now they want a snake or a lizard or something. And mom says, "Oh no, not in this house." So let's talk about that problem. What can parents do about that? The first thing I love to tell parents who come up to me and say,"Oh my gosh, my kid wants to bring a snake in the house." I say one thing, start education. Research first. And believe it or not, I'll tell parents the best way to start to see if a child wants a reptile in the house and that you can overcome your fear as a parent is literally, you're going to giggle at this one, is get a stuffed snake. Really? Yeah. Get a stuffed snake. Let the kids be responsible for that and see if they have that responsibility and the attention span that it takes to invite a reptile into your house. The parents, I actually recommend my book because it's a great book and it's a non-threatening introductory level to snakes for children. The book is based for children ages two to eight, but it has helped many parents understand that snakes are kind of cool. So you're saying then to start with the stuffed snake to see if that satisfies their need or if it needs to go further. And talk about your book. Sassy Greentree Boa is the title of your book, right? And then we've got a graphic that's going to pop up here while you're talking about it. But go ahead and tell us about that book. I was in environmental education about 30 years ago. And while I was teaching, there was a big gap in child appropriate books about snakes that weren't threatening, that weren't scary. After 30 years retirement and everything else, I've gotten back into environmental education. But I always wanted to present a book to children that they could read that was a non-threatening introductory to snakes. The book is all about Sassy the Green Tree Bower. And she goes on an adventure and she meets snakes and she meets real snakes. That's the difference between a cartoon book and mine. Mine is educational. So each snake she meets, there's a little bit of education about that particular snake on each of the pages when she meets a snake. It's all done in a very whimsical way. And at the end, she decides that it's okay that she's just a plain green snake and that she's met lots of friends along the way. Basically that each of the snakes, even though she meets a couple of scary ones, they're not that scary once you get to know them. Is it in a format of a storybook that a child can be read to? And how does it benefit parents? It is in a storybook form. It's very repetitive in its writing. Children can learn how to read reading it also. It helps parents because I've had parents who don't even like to see pictures of snakes. They have picked up the book because their kids want to learn about snakes. And they have actually said to me,"Thank you so much because by reading this book with my child, it's actually alleviated a little bit of my fear." I put humor into it also. The book has a lot. It's very light, very humorous. They found that very soothing. They weren't like, "Oh my gosh, my kid wants to read a book about snakes." It was more like, "Okay, this is a fun book about snakes.". Why do you think a lot of adults don't like snakes? Well, believe it or not, Bill, you can see the roots of this back in biblical times. Adam and Eve, the snake was portrayed as evil. And through the ages, it's always been thought of that way. As people turn into adults, they may have had some sort of traumatic experience with a snake, been startled by a snake, and that has increased their fear. And they've never attempted to get over it. They've just decided that snakes are scary and snakes are bad and they don't try to conquer that fear. I grew up with snakes. They were a pet in our family, just like a dog, just like a cat. So it all depends on your exposure too. And I've always told people, it's okay. It is okay to be frightened of snakes. It really is. If you have a fear of them, that's fine. But the one thing I tell everybody is it's okay to be afraid of them. Just don't touch them. So people call you the snake lady, you say, right? They do. They do. I have been known as a snake lady for a very long time. So beyond your book, and you mentioned the center, what is it you do? And what is the center? Riverside Reptile Education Center. I volunteer there once a week as, believe it or not, a tortoise walker. But I also -. Wait, wait, wait. A tortoise walker? Yes. The tortoises need exercise. You've seen all those big tortoises in other zoos. Riverside Reptile is a reptile zoo. Well, if they don't get exercise, it is very difficult for them to lift that 100, 200 pound body up and move around. So they started this program last year where volunteers come in and we literally walk the tortoises around the center. And they have a tortoise terrace where we can go outside with them and walk them around and literally give them exercise so they're able to carry that hundred pound body around. Yep. Where's the center located? The center's located in Enfield, Connecticut. I volunteer there. Yes. And it's a place where parents can bring their kids and get up and close to reptiles, right? Absolutely. It is a wonderful place for people to get up and close to reptiles and see reptiles you will never see in your lifetime. They have some reptiles there that are just amazing. Some of the snakes that they have, you can view them safely. Do you have any funny snake stories? Oh, I have two in particular. So the first one is when my oldest son was four or five, we belonged to a mommy and children's playgroup. And we were meeting one day at one of the houses and it was a beautiful farm. And we were walking through a field and I saw a piece of plywood. And having boys, my son, he said, "Oh, come on, Tim. Let's go look. Let's see if we can find a snake underneath that." parents, moms with their children with us. And Tim and I went running over it and we lifted up the thing. And there was a couple snakes. So of course I reached down and picked them up. And I turned around to show the other kids and the parents. All Timothy and I saw were all these parents and kids running away. So that one was quite funny. And that's when I have to realize that not everybody loves snakes, so I have to kind of dial it back sometimes. So the other funniest story is while I was doing my environmental education, my car had a big magnetic sign on it that said environmental education, my handle, the snake lady on it. Unfortunately, one night I did get T-boned, didn't get hurt. So the police arrived and the police officer kept going around and around and around my car with his flashlight shining in the. And I was like, "What is going on here?" I'm like, "No, officer, I'm not hurt." And he finally came back up to the front door and he said,"Ma'am, are there snakes in this vehicle?" And I'm like, "No, I don't have any in there." Then he relaxed and went about asking me all the right questions. But it was so funny. It was just like -. I guess from what you're saying then is if a child expresses interest in reptiles, bring them to places like the Riverside. Absolutely. And get exposure to see if they really do like that. Yes. And then also for the parents to get used to handling them as well, so the parent gets beyond their fear. But you bring up a very good point earlier. We got to be careful not to be projecting our fears onto our children artificially. And if they have that interest, then help them experience more of that to see if it's what they really want, right? Exactly. You think of it, it's a good family thing to do together. If you have a child interested in it, explore it together. Research and everything else. I mean, the internet is wonderful. You just go on, you spend time together researching snakes, learning about snakes and everything else. It's kind of like sports and stuff. If a child is really into hockey and stuff like that, as a parent, you're going to get involved with that. You're going to get involved with all the ins and outs of the sport. Same thing with snakes. You're going to get involved. You may not be hands-on, which is okay. But if you explore it together with your kids when the child is old enough and responsible enough, then you'll say, "Okay, all right. We can bring a snake into the house. I know you're going to be responsible. I've kind of gotten over my fear a little bit and I know a little more about them and know what to expect.". And so what's important is coming up with boundaries and rules about when they can handle them and also participating in their care and everything. Have you ever been to the Repticons? Yes. A few of the Repticon shows. I actually vent at the Show Me Reptile shows. Actually, I have a booth there and my book does very well when I go to these. I have a lot of parents buying the books for their kids. The book does very well. That's. Great. And so it's a show place where you bring a snake and let them handle it? I don't bring any snakes because the Show Me Reptiles or the Rapticons or any type of reptile show. There are people there already. Okay. Handlers. Yep. It's a place where you can purchase snakes and stuff like that. And yeah, it's great because some of the kids. So what'll happen is some of the keepers who are there selling their snakes and they have the same mindset as I do. They're like, "Well, maybe your kid's not ready yet." And a lot of them send them over to my table where they can pick up the book. I kind of talk to them about things about owning a snake and stuff like that. There are a lot of responsible reptile keepers out there. I. Love the fact that you set up a booth and make your book available. Your book is obviously available on Amazon when I saw the link. So I will post that information down in the comment section of the podcast so people can go take a look at your book and purchase it. Nancy, this has been really informative for me, so thank you so much for coming on the show. You're welcome. Good luck with more snakes and thanks for volunteering down at the center as well. I enjoy it. Thanks, Nancy. All right. Well, you have a great afternoon. You too. As we wrap up today's episode, perhaps the biggest takeaway, especially for me as a parent, is that a child's curiosity doesn't always have to become a source of conflict. Instead, it can become an opportunity for learning, exploration, and family connection. Nancy reminded us that education is often the first step toward overcoming fear and that parents don't have to become snake enthusiasts overnight to support their child's interests. Sometimes simply learning together can make all the difference. Thanks again to Nancy Hopkins, the snake lady, for sharing her knowledge and passion with us today. Check out her book, Sassy the Green Tree Boa on amazon.com. Before we go, please remember that the content shared in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Every family situation is unique and anyone needing immediate guidance or support should seek help from a qualified mental health professional, counselor, or legal expert. This podcast is the property of Bill Corbett and Cooperative Kids Publishing. Copyright 2026, all rights reserved.
.jpg)