More and more older women are discovering a new voice: one that embraces a newfound freedom. Sharon Blackie, author of Hagitude, ...
What Will You Do With the Rest of Your Life?
This question has been staring me in the face as my seventies flash by. When I was young it felt like I had all the time in the world to plot my future. Now my future has shrunk. I go to more funerals than weddings. I catch my children whispering behind my back, comparing notes on how I’ve slowed down. Fundamentally I have two choices: [...]
Pat Taub
Remembering My Father, Women’s Primary Wins, A Cottage Move & More!
August 9th August 9th is an auspicious date for me for two reasons: the tragic anniversary of Hiroshima and my father’s birthday, born in 1913. He died in 1994 succumbing to a rare form of blood cancer. My parents lived in Harrisburg, Penna., remaining there during the meltdown of Three Mile Island. I’ve always wondered if my father’s [...]
Pat Taub
How I Learned to Stop Hiding My Money Under the Mattress
Guest Post by Joan Smith Many single women in the over-seventy crowd admit to the spectre of the bag lady looming in the background. She embodies our fear of not having enough to live on, just when our ability to earn is diminishing. You know those articles about planning for our retirement? Many of us don’t have enough extra to warrant [...]
Pat Taub
A Remarkable Nun, Sunflowers, The Purple Lady & More!
A Remarkable Nun Last Sunday and Monday I hosted Sister Megan Rice, the 88 year-old activist nun from Washington, DC who was in Maine to promote the new documentary she’s featured in, The Nuns, the Priests and the Bombs. This photo was taken in front of my condo, which was formerly a residence for nuns who worked at Mercy Hospital across [...]
Pat Taub
The Language of Kindness
The Language of Kindness by Christie Watson is one of those rare books that make your heart come alive. After I finished it, I felt a surging love for close friends and family, even a deeper connection to strangers I passed on the street. Watson’s book is an account of her 20 years as a nurse in London hospitals. As a student nurse Watson [...]
Pat Taub
A Scary T-Shirt, “Motherland,” A Full Moon Ritual & an Inspiring Nun
A Troubling T-Shirt This week I was in an office parking lot, approaching my car after an acupuncture treatment when I noticed a tough-looking guy wearing this T-shirt. Its hateful, menacing message rattled me. I traced it to an Internet website with similar menacing shirts. The image is below. Motherland, new Sundance series [...]
Pat Taub
Breaking Free from Expectations
Guest Post by Emily Capelle I always heard that as you get older you lose your filter and start saying whatever comes to mind. Or behave in ways you wouldn’t have in the past. Well now that I’m 58, I have noticed it more and more. Growing up in an “in-between” time like the sixties and seventies, I suspect many young girls, like [...]
Pat Taub
Online Support, Sen. Collins, My Cottage Retreat & Weekend Plans
A Little Help from My Friends After blogging this week about my struggle to accommodate to my aging body’s inevitable decline with a focus on my newly visited sciatica, I received numerous helpful suggestions on the post’s comment section and on the WOW Facebook page. There was lots of supportive advice from others describing how they’ve [...]
Pat Taub
Bemoaning My Physical Decline
I’ve more or less accepted the changes aging brings to my appearance: wrinkles, a sagging jaw line, droopy breasts and a puffy tummy. The physical limitations are another story. I am frequently at war with the arthritis in my left knee and right shoulder. I curse my body when my long walks have to be curtailed because my knee swells [...]
Pat Taub
Summer Reads that WOW!
In these dark times slow reading or embracing books with paper pages can be a source of resistance and a place of refuge. I breathe easier when I turn away from the Internet to read real books in real time. Summer reading makes it possible to revisit a time when reading was leisurely. My picks of summer books runs the gamut from thrillers [...]
Pat Taub