WOW: Women's Older Wisdom

Looking for Home

Lately I have been thinking about the meaning of home. Not the wonderful Victorian space I have lived in for almost 14 years; my neighborhood of tree-lined streets; the welcoming market; the Maine coastline that still takes my breath [...]

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Death and Dying4

My World Is A Little Less Today

Barbara Rainville died last week; we’d known each other for 50 years. What I will miss most is not just Barbara’s steady friendship but sharing life’s big moments: the birth of our youngest child; dinner parties filled with laughter in one another’s homes; family picnics; our growing children; the excitement of new, meaningful jobs; [...]

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Listening to Elders

The passing down of elder wisdom is an honored tradition among cultures like the Natives Americans and the Japanese where elders are sought out for their sage advice. Unfortunately, this intergenerational exchange rarely happens in America’s youth-obsessed culture, which devalues elders and their lived experiences. But as more Americans [...]

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How to Support One Who’s Grieving

“Grief is the price you pay for love.”  Amy Bloom For a long time, as hard as I tried, I was awkward and uncomfortable in my attempts to  comfort the newly grief-stricken.  When a close friend or relative was hit with a death, I fulfilled my moral obligation to make contact, but no matter how often I reached out to someone who was grieving, [...]

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This Isn’t Exactly What We Had Planned*

* Carly Simon, “Legend in Your Own Time” GUEST POST by ANNE PENWAY This was not supposed to happen. Not when it did. I expected my midlife would include caregiving for my parents. And it did. I was the first responder to gradually escalating parental health crises for sixteen years. I expected to outlive my husband. Most women do.  The [...]

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