Women's Issues Midlife And Beyond
If Marcia Brady were estrogen, and sister Jan progesterone, the infamous line would still apply…â€Estrogen, Estrogen, Estrogen!†Estrogen embodies femaleness, it dominates, it ebbs, and it gets more than its fair share of press. Say the word “estrogen†in mixed company and the following will likely occur– women nod and men get twitchy. Progesterone, on the other hand, is somewhat… Read More
 “Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.†― Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice It was… Read More
…and then what happened? Amid a table of dirty dishes, crumpled gift wrap, and stop-and-go conversations, our three-year-old twin grandchildren began getting restless. It was past naptime, they were in a setting unfamiliar to them—Norman Quack’s restaurant in Forest Lake, MN—and half-eaten chocolate chip cookies left chocolate tracks on their hands and faces. Mmmm. Theo had just unwrapped The Cookie… Read More
It’s confusing, isn’t it? The way our bodies change and seem to go rogue on us? As we age a baffling number of transformations occur and we scramble to figure out if they are normal, abnormal, or some sort of ancient curse unleashed when we touched that museum piece we weren’t supposed to touch. Where did that hair come from? Why is… Read More
We were celebrating our 15th anniversary, and I was expecting eight inches…of snow…to add to the excitement. The weather gods had been warning us mere mortals for a week that big snow was on the way. Looking upwards, I saw the sky was grey and pouting, so a storm seemed possible. Looking downwards, I wondered why my husband was wearing… Read More
She drifted over to my booth like a gentle breeze on an otherwise blustery day. “I want to buy one of your scarves,†she said. “I’ve walked around to the other vendors and believe yours are the best quality and style.†I was flattered, of course. Anita Regina Scepurek is a veteran artist and vendor. Her current media is fused glass,… Read More
“Just how many armies are we feeding?†My husband, with his usual finesse, needed to let me know I was going overboard. I glared at him and hoisted a platter of crudites that resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa out to the car. It was a lot, but I’d never, ever, admit it was too much. We were hosting a… Read More
My husband jabbed me in the ribs. “Check out Andy’s Christmas sweater!†We were sitting in church waiting for the choir to take their seats. My eyes followed my husband’s less than subtle, full arm extended, finger pointing. Andy sat facing the congregation. There was a suspicious gleam in his eyes…the gleam of a man delighting in the embarrassment he… Read More
“Sex at age ninety is like trying to shoot pool with a rope.†~George Burns Margaret is another example of an older woman who spent much of her adult life without a partner. She found love and marriage for the first time when she was forty years old. Margaret told me that once she laid eyes on Mike at a… Read More
“To hear many religious people talk, one would think God created the torso, head, legs and arms, but the devil slapped on the genitals.†~Don Schrader Cats in Heat My grandmother thought pretty much everything humans did was a sin, particularly if gratification was involved. Had enough to eat? Sin. Have money? Sin. Saying, “I’m proud of the job I… Read More
