10 Things to Know When You Turn Sixty
10 Things to Know When You Turn Sixty “Aging happens, because we cannot stop it, and it is not what we feared.” –Victoria Smith, Hags On the morning of my sixtieth birthday party, my firstborn and I walked to a breakfast cafe in Berkeley. “It’s funny,” I said. “I don’t feel old. I feel great.” […]
Surviving Overwhelm
Surviving Overwhelm: Context, Impositions, Self-Care and Genetic Flaws I am almost always overwhelmed and the ‘Big O’ is now my middle name. I have begun to accept the suchness of my particular modus-operandi. To give some clarity, let me confess that my personal biggie is that I do not identify as any one type of […]
It Started With a Coffin
It Started With a Coffin In the late nineties when the book and movie of The Garden of Good and Evil were all the rage, my husband and I traveled to Savannah to see the locations in the book. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast on one of Savannah’s famous squares. As bed and […]
The Power of Late Bloomers
The Power of Late Bloomers The attempts to disempower an American woman unfold across her lifetime. She is sexualized as a young girl, loses her reproductive freedom as a young woman, takes on the “Second Shift” as a mother, and becomes invisible after menopause. Rendering women over fifty invisible is insidious because in reality age […]
Living The Dream
Living The Dream All my life, I dreamed of literary success. I wanted to write and publish a blockbuster novel and enjoy the life of the successful author. The universe had other plans, so I set the dream aside and applied myself to earning a paycheck. While rearing my son, climbing a career ladder, and […]
Welcome to Amsterdam
Welcome to Amsterdam In the early years of raising my son who has cerebral palsy, I subscribed to a magazine for parents of children with disabilities. The magazine was full of information about dealing with schools and physicians, and the tone was resolutely upbeat. One particular article stands out in my memory, four decades later. […]
