While I’m an elder, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to dying, that is until my brother, who’s 20 months younger, announced in...
Thinking About Death
While I’m an elder, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to dying, that is until my brother, who’s 20 months younger, announced in a recent late-night phone call that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (To preserve my brother’s [...]
Pat Taub
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The Secrets of the Dog Park
GUEST POST by BARBARA BENGELS I’m a dog run junkie. There’s hardly a day that goes by when my husband and I are not at a local dog run with my daughter’s 2 ½ year old pup who lives with us. I’d like to say that this is all to benefit our Penelope—but I’d be lying. Yes, Penny looks forward to these excursions every day—to [...]
Pat Taub
Celebrating Feisty Old Broads
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day. These immortal words of Dylan Thomas are a suitable motto for Feisty Old Broads, older women who reject the stereotype of the accommodating old lady. The FOB’s are women who are fearless in their individuality. They speak truth to power, laugh a lot, have [...]
Pat Taub
Father’s Day, A Great New Podcast, A Netflix Thriller & More!
Father’s Day This Sunday I will mark Father’s Day, remembering both my father who died in May 1994 and my oldest son, father to two spirited teens, Jane and Max. The role of fathers has changed dramatically over three generations. My father was the traditional ‘50s Dad, rarely at home, working long hours as an attorney and never [...]
Pat Taub
Practicing Forgiveness Is a Game Changer
Forgiveness is especially meaningful late in life. This is the time to wipe the slate clean, to do away with emotional baggage that prevents us from living in the moment. To quote Ram Dass: “The role of elders is to move away from ego into soul.” What could be better for the soul than to practice forgiveness? You might ask: “How [...]
Pat Taub
Hair Stories
Recently we’ve been seeing lots of stories on older women going gray or white during Covid. Deciding it would be interesting to unpack these stories, I posted on the WOW Facebook page, asking women how they feel about their hair post Covid. I am pleased to report that the majority in my sample has made peace with their hair. Many felt [...]
Pat Taub
Memorial Day Weekend in NYC, “The Booksellers,” & Carol Anderson
Memorial Day in Manhattan Alice Neel Last weekend I traveled to New York City to take in art and New York’s scenic walks. The weekend’s pounding rain curtailed some of my plans, but my mission to see the Alice Neel Exhibit at the Met was not thwarted by the rain. Below is the painting, “Marxist Girl,” from 1972. Neel, a life long [...]
Pat Taub
How Mentorship Helped Me Find My Way in My Seventies
GUEST POST by PAMELA VALOIS I met Jacomena Maybeck when I was thirty-seven and she was in her late seventies. She was tarring her roof, dressed in a halter top and shorts. I’d never met anyone like her. Our long friendship would help prepare me for my own winter years that I now find myself in, at age seventy-seven. In her memoir, Jacomena [...]
Pat Taub