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...
Women 60+10
The Week I Became A Little Old Lady
Even though I’m in my 8th decade, most days I feel youngish, energetic and in step with the world, old, but not really old. This past week my self-image was radically challenged when a few random encounters forced me to recognize that I am often seen as a little old lady–a likely stereotype given my short stature and thin frame. [...]
Pat Taub
Goodbye Susan, Hello Lisa!
Lisa Savage, 62, a public school teacher from Skowhegan, Maine had been contemplating her upcoming retirement in the standard ways–a chance to travel, take up a new interest, and more time with the grandkids–when she received phone calls from several Green Party activists asking her to consider a run for the US Senate in 2020 against [...]
Pat Taub
Awaken Your Inner Crone: Claim Your Power!
Thousands of years ago during “The Age of the Goddess” older women, known as Crones were sought out and worshipped for the wisdom they imparted. Becoming a Crone was the crowning achievement of a woman’s life—a far cry from 2019 where our ageist and sexist culture dismisses the older women. Barbara Walker, author of The Crone describes [...]
Pat Taub
Aging as a Lesbian
GUEST POST By DOREEN BLUMENFELD I’m not sure there is much difference to aging as a lesbian than as a straight woman. Same aches, same muddled brain, same thinning hair, and poor eyesight. What makes lesbians different as we age? Perhaps, and only perhaps, on the surface, some lesbians have a greater appreciation for women friends and [...]
Pat Taub
Unapologetic
GUEST POST by NANCY RULLO The model slipped her robe off and slid into a pose elongating her legs, torso, neck and arms. During the one-minute pose, artists moved charcoal across large sketchpads. I watched Judy’s hand translating the model onto the page in confident strokes. The thin charcoal in my hand broke in half; my sketch [...]
Pat Taub
Coming into My Own at 60
GUEST POST by TONI KIEF The day I turned sixty I collided with a shocking revelation. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up! I was single again, living alone and on my way to meet my women friends for vodka and cake. The thought wouldn’t stop; it kept repeating. I drove to the party, and took inventory. At eleven I wanted [...]
Pat Taub
Home Alone at 70-Something
GUEST POST by TESSA CALVERT-LINNELL Close the front door behind me, then turn on the lights and put the shopping away. Nothing will move in this house – not a chair or a spoon – unless at the touch of my hand. Nothing breathes but me – except for a few plants in pots and the occasional spider, because I’m one of millions of [...]
Pat Taub
Lessons On How to Die
When I mentioned to a friend that I was reading Katy Butler’s new book, The Art of Dying Well, her response was: “That sounds grim.” Another friend was similarly put-off, saying, “I try not to think about death. It’s too depressing.” After finishing Butler’s book I felt anything but depressed. I felt empowered [...]
Pat Taub
Miserable with Getting Old
I recently received an email from a WOW reader, who described herself as “miserable with aging.” She wrote, “I hate getting old. I hate the wrinkles, sleep problems and bouts of loneliness . . . I hate having aged out of the dating scene.” The reader’s complaints carry a universal ring in our ageist and sexist culture, which [...]
Pat Taub
Witnessing Death
GUEST POST BY MARGIE MARTIN CAMPBELL I first encountered death when I was three. I watched my beloved Grandpa (Dad’s father) restlessly walking the floor, then sitting on the couch only to return to his pacing. I had noticed he hadn’t eaten, so I suggested to Mom that she fix him something. I wondered why she had such a strange look on [...]
Pat Taub