Category: 40-Something
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Joining the Rat-Race Mid-Life
Over 20 years ago, I sat on the tarmac in Iowa waiting to take off and return home from a business trip. I was in my first big-girl job post-college, and after receiving a promotion, was promptly sent to various cities to work with administrators in the Midwest and Northeast.…
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D-Day Celebrations Have Me Thinking About Patriotism
I don’t come from a military family, nor was I raised with any real political discussion or thoughts about country. Yet, in my twenties I started paying attention to history and even more so in the last decade, I’ve grown to be highly patriotic. There was no significant reason why…
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Why Isn’t Parenting Considered a Profession and Why Are We So Embarrassed by It?
If you’ve read this blog lately, you know I’ve been traveling a bit. Conversations among a wide array of human beings, each simultaneously living strikingly similar yet vastly dissimilar family lives fascinated me. A perpetual student at heart, I enjoyed every small talk chat and lengthier conversation surrounding the literal…
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Remembering to Play When the Kids Are Away
“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” Ralph Waldo Emerson I read this quote recently and thought of my kids who are all really good at “play”, even though they are now in their early 20’s. They are all playing college sports. The girls still play Just…
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Save the Journals or Burn Them…?
Although New Year’s Day is often a day to toss out the “old”, the January 1st purging of my home office was not planned. I just happened to smell a fire brewing outside and discovered my husband burning some Christmas wrap and nonsense snail mail. I was sitting in…
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Determined to Enjoy the Breathtaking Beauty of Nature, Despite the Profound Pain of Life
I had an early morning errand to run. The dawn hours were filled with thick fog. As I drove back down the street toward my house, the sun began to rise, peeking through the few remaining leaves on the trees lining the country road. I slowed down to fully embrace…
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The Retail Apocalypse – Can Bath and Body Works Survive? Not If They Keep Bothering Us
The bricks and mortar stores that try to sell an actual experience are still doing relatively well in the era where Amazon and other online retailers threaten store fronts across America. As part of L Brands (home to the ever-profitable Victoria’s Secret), Bath and Body Works is going strong. Yankee…
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Unlike Most People, I’m Glad It’s Monday
It’s seven weeks into the semester and I’m profoundly feeling the effects of the empty-nest. The weekends are the worst, especially Sunday evenings. Some Moms get through this easier than others, but I’m struggling. Saturdays were always slow mornings, since we went to church on Sundays. Breakfast, hanging out in…
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Assuming Her Life Must Be Easy, But Really, It’s Not
One of my friends (we’ll call her Hannah) has been slightly overweight all of her adult life. We never discussed it much as she never felt hindered by it, nor expressed desire to change it. Then, unexpectedly one day Hannah admitted to me that she had admired one woman in…
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Why We Struggle to Respect Others’ Parenting Health Care Decisions-Microchipping is One Reason
Why do we struggle to respect the health care choices other parents make for their children? I think the answer is: because “their decisions” potentially affect our own children. Several years ago, one of my students gave a presentation arguing against the use of VeriChip, which are microchip implants placed…
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About This Mama Duck…
Well, first, the “duck” title is a metaphor for being the leader of my nest (a home on a few acres of land that is in need of updating but with three ducks in college, we’re keeping the outdated kitchen!). The duck metaphor also represents the protector of the babies…
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Getting Ahead or Enjoying the Moment?
Recently, my daughter had her very first job interview. After we decided on her outfit and printed a copy of her resume, I wondered if they’d offer a 401K plan. Although utterly absurd, the thought really did cross my mind. While I should have been enjoying the moment, I zeroed…
Tales from a Mid-Lifer 