Had to Get this Off My Chest. I can picture her white uniform, and the cap from her Chicago nursing school pinned to her dark, curly hair. The year is 1953. She is 27, a floor nurse at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla. She’s in motion all day, bringing medications, lifting and turning patients. She is also newly pregnant for the first time. On a break she stops at the ladies’ room and realizes she
My Lusty Encore Career Sexual pleasure is a human treasure. This revelation did not come to me as some blinding flash of the obvious. From getting my period at eleven to being post-menopausal at 55, struggling with vaginal dryness and lack of desire until I was in my sixties, breast cancer at 67 and again at 72, I have experienced the perspective of sex as a dichotomy. On the one hand, sex is considered a
Vampire as Crone Metaphor Five years ago I had terrific fun writing my first novel. Brilliant Charming Bastard is the story of three women scientists in their sixties who join forces for smart revenge when they discover they are dating the same lying dilettante (who is stealing their ideas). I loved pushing back on social stereotypes by writing those vivid older women characters. But then I thought: How can I take this to the max?
Dreams Never Expire Do you remember your childhood dreams? Not the ones you pursued because society expected you to work a good-paying job while marrying and raising a family. The ones that came before, back in the days when your backyard landscaping served as the depths of a jungle for your wildest explorations. What did you imagine doing in those early days? Did you want to walk on the moon, dance Swan Lake with a
A Crone’s Quest Fifteen years ago a cyst consumed most of my right ovary. I had it removed. Not long after, I saw a new doctor who looked at my records and said, “I see you are missing an ovary.” “Not really,” I said. “I hardly ever think about it.” Nor do I miss my uterus and the other ovary, both of which departed ten years ago. When Nora Ephron said to “cut out all
Older Women’s Stories: It’s the Creative Age Life slows down, just a little. Family and work aren’t as demanding. More time, more space, and you might discover yourself again. It’s a journey. There are definitely left turns, some detours, sometimes a one-way street, on the road to back to yourself, but each brings possible discovery. A therapist for many years, I’ve also long been a writer—seven books and counting—but I’d never written a novel until
