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...
Mothers and Daughters10
The Journey Home to Self: Spirituality Late in Life
Aging has brought a renewed interest in the spiritual questions I grappled with during my late night college bull sessions. Is there a God? Can prayer make a difference in one’s life? What is my spiritual path? In my middle years I was too busy raising children and building a career to grapple with meaning of life questions with the [...]
Pat Taub
Mother’s Day Actions, The New World of A Handmaid’s Tale & Co-Housing
Mother’s Day Actions Sunday is Mother’s Day and peace and justice groups are marking it with actions to support mothers in jail and migrant mothers whose children were taken from them when they crossed the border into the US. For the third year in a row Black justice groups have organized “Black Mama’s Bail Out Day,” raising bail [...]
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
Crafting Healing Stories to Shed Anger
One of the most valuable lessons aging has bestowed on me is the importance of shedding anger. The less anger I hold the more inner peace I possess. I’ve learned to release a lot of my anger by imagining myself inhabiting the lives of those who have hurt me, resulting in a new story where I experience compassion towards the other. This [...]
Pat Taub
I Hate Asking for Help!
Guest Post by Walker Thornton I hate asking for help. There is no one specific reason—a mix of not wanting to seem weak or vulnerable, and fearing I’ll be turned down. I was raised in the South, by a very traditional mother who wanted a pretty, sweet daughter. I was taught boys didn’t like girls who were assertive or too talkative. I [...]
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
Garden Angels, Granddaughter Jane & A Handmaid’s Tale Finale
Flowers in Memory of My Mother I belong to a progressive church in downtown Portland, which mercifully accepts my spiritual confusion. Last Sunday, in memory of my mother, I donated the altar flowers, purchased at the farmer’s market. They were exactly the kind of natural bouquet Jane would have loved. Garden Angels Update A few weeks ago [...]
Pat Taub
City Garden, A Favorite Antique Shop & NYC Bound!
Continuing Weather Angst For Mainers, like myself, the old saying that “April is the cruelest month” is being amended this year to, “May is the cruelest month.” Aside from a day here and there of warm, sunny weather May has been dominated by clouds and unseasonably cool temps. I’m personally putting June on notice to bring a weather [...]
Pat Taub
Short Takes, no.2
“Short Takes” is my regular Friday post where I reflect on the past week, citing happenings of interest: a good read, social observations, and the like. Mother’s Day this Sunday: I attend a progressive inner-city church in downtown Portland led by a feminist minister. For our Mother’s Day service I will be among five women [...]
Pat Taub
Two Great Winter Reads: “My Name is Lucy Barton” and “Excellent Daughters”
Portland, Maine, my hometown, is famous for lobster dinners, craft beer and the ubiquitous appearance of LL Bean boots, but, for those who live here, it’s equally well known as a city of readers. In this spirit I’m championing two great reads to enjoy while snuggled up next to your wood stove with a cup of tea. My first pick is Elizabeth [...]
Pat Taub