If you live alone, if your family is scattered far and wide, if you recently lost a partner or spouse, if you can’t afford the plane...
Family
Growing Old Without a Partner
I’m all for love and romance but when our love options run out as we age, when dating is more frustrating than satisfying, wouldn’t we be happier if we accepted that love is no longer in the cards, seeking companionship among friends and family? I mentioned this to a friend who looked aghast as if I were delivering a death sentence! [...]
Pat Taub
Diving Into Food Memories
If I had a time machine, I’d revisit cherished food memories, entering into those moments where food connected me to love and warm hospitality. I first invited someone to the table at age three. I had a ritual of tugging my just-home-from-work father into my playroom where a miniature tea set was centered on a child-sized table. My father [...]
Pat Taub
Honoring Our Mother Line
Reading Deborah Tannen’s piece in last week’s New York Times entitled, “My Mother Speaks Through Me,” it dawned on me that as I age I’m becoming more and more like my mother. My younger self would have fumed at this comparison, but my older self honors it. My everyday life has been enriched by adopting some of my mother’s habits: [...]
Pat Taub
Parenting Adult Children
by Lisa Savage, Guest Blogger One of the rites of passage for an elder mom is when her children become full-fledged adults. Do they still need our nurturing? What’s the best way for a mom of adults to transition to offering support that both meets her need to nurture and her grown child’s need to be acknowledged as capable? Things have [...]
Pat Taub
A Daughter-in-Law’s Take on Mothers-in-Law
by Edwige Charlot, Guest Blogger This post is a response to “Why Do Mothers-in-Law Get A Bad Rap?” published on WOW on June 20th . From my time as the girlfriend, I knew that if my then boyfriend and I ever got married I’d be marrying into his family. By the time we were engaged, I was already well versed in the mother- in-law [...]
Pat Taub
What To Do When the Holiday Blues Strike
If you’re an older woman who lives alone; if your family is scattered far and wide; if you recently lost a partner or spouse; if you have limited mobility due to income or health concerns, you might dread the winter holidays, feeling like they’re a curse since they tend to magnify your isolation. To add to your holiday blues, you might [...]
Pat Taub
Practicing Gratitude in Crazy Times
With Thanksgiving approaching, if you’re like me, you’re consumed with cooking, hosting family, or traveling, making it easy to overlook that this is when we’re supposed to be thankful for our blessings. Living in such crazy times, where terrorist attacks occur with greater frequency, and where wars are off the charts and when many of [...]
Pat Taub
Madeleines: a Must-See Play by Bess Welden
If you live in or near Portland, Maine, and you’re a woman who struggles in relationship with her mother and/or sister (that’s almost every woman I know!), you owe it to yourself to see Bess Welden’s riveting new play, Madeleines. You can catch it Thursday through Sunday at Portland Stage’s Studio Theater. Welden boldly tackles universal [...]
Pat Taub