Category: middle age
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The Coming and Going During the College Years
Nearly three months ago, I walked through the brisk November air into the sliding glass doors of the airport, traveled up the escalator and stood outside security, waiting for my youngest to get off the plane. It was two days before Thanksgiving and my hands had not been on my…
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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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Like Moses, My Arms Got Tired
Exodus 17 11-13 As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed. When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each…
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Our Many Characteristics
My youngest called from college, distressed about boy #1 talking to boy #2 on her behalf. She did not approve. She believes that any young man worth dating in the future would need to personally get to know her – through her. The conversation progressed into fully analyzing the words…
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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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You’re Middle Age When…Clothes Shopping
You try something on in a dressing room and don’t bother to look in the mirror until you’ve determined it is comfortable. I took 10 items into a dressing room a few days ago. Whether I put on pants or a top, I immediately did a few yoga stretches, squatted…
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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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We are Parenting PIONEERS
“We” would be those of us who were the very first average citizens to log on to the new thing called aol.com back in the late 1990s on our clunky PCs. “We” are largely in our late 40s and early 50s with teenagers or young adult children. “We” are those…
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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…
Tales from a Mid-Lifer 