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I’ve been thinking a lot about risk lately. Just the word used to cause a shudder in my body from head to toe. Risk. I knew I needed to take it when growing up in my family if I was going to change anything. You see my father was an alcoholic. All the dysfunction you might imagine came with it. Rage, violence–verbal and physical intimidation–the codependent mother trying to keep the peace, and my sister and I, left to carve ...
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Yes, I’m into my fifties now. Hooray! Each morning I look for another line on my lips. Soon I’ll give up. Maybe there will be so many of them they’ll combine to form a nice new lip again. Yes, I’m kidding.
Somehow women in their fifties seem to get lost, don’t they? We’re not climbing the ladder any longer, and certainly can’t claim any resemblance, physically or otherwise to our thirties and forties.
We’re almost or are done with parenting, but we’re ...
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MY BODY- I LOVE IT/I HATE IT
I’ll never forget the afternoon, almost eleven years ago, when I was in counseling. I was getting therapy after my son’s traumatic brain injury.
It had been a difficult few weeks—no, actually the whole damn year had been hell—and I was trying to find peace anywhere I could find it.
The therapist listened as I poured out my pain.
Of course as a mother, I was feeling guilty about not being able to console or soothe my ...
Continue Reading →After dressing in jeans and my cheer jersey, I went bounding down the stairs and found my mother at the kitchen table. That morning, her body and round face, surrounded by her dark, curly, dyed hair, seemed to be smaller.
I didn’t realize how my life was changing. Even as I resisted, my boundaries were being redefined. I was making new friends, and the things I was involved in were sophisticated.
The importance of my parents was diminishing.
As I looked at Mom ...
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Transition. It’s a word that can strike fear in all ages, and both sexes. When we’re young, it can mean facing the decision of an adult. When in our early 20’s, it can mean embracing a more mature life and making serious career or relationship choices.
Women of transition — what does this mean? It begins at 35 or so, when that first lip line or wrinkle or sag in the eyelid becomes noticeable. But beyond the ...
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