Impending Gloom

I have gotten old too darn fast. — I spent a good portion of my life raising four children (in what I describe as my conservative Christian period) only to get divorced. I had to re-invent myself. Change is the only constant. I embraced it fully in 2017. I learned to say “Yes!” to new things and since that time I have had…

My first few days of Non-Destructive Test school and I was panicking. What was I thinking? — Who wants to hire a mature woman, especially one who is competing in the job market with young guys? When I wasn’t crying in the bathroom because I couldn’t get the printer to work, I was hiding in the library reading my textbooks. I had moved to Minnesota after selling…

It sneaks up behind you, stealing your time, energy, your very life — Do you know what it is like to lose everything? To wake up in a 5,000 square foot mansion surrounded by the four children you have nurtured for 20+ years only to find all of it gone in a matter of weeks? To be transplanted, as if by aliens, to…

Housing is in short supply, the cost of labor favors the young, but I Don’t Care. I Want to Keep my House and my Job. They can do what we did — work hard and save. — Housing units are in short supply. As the owner, or mortgage payor for a tiny house, it took a measure of hard work and savings to get this place. I was shocked to discover you no longer have to put 20% down as a deposit, either. Consider it the equivalent…

They form and inform a large part of our lives. How to pass this knowledge from ourselves to our daughters — Breasts. It seems like they just appear one day, and you have to accept them. They arrive with a legacy, one that I witness with my own family. “Kid! Kid, is that you?” My grammy’s voice calls to me from upstairs as I open the door to the brick walk-up. …

Gifts landed at my door as I needed them. I only had to open up. — I was facing a long journey. I knew I could no longer afford the large house I lived in on the East Coast for 10+ years, so I worked at cleaning it out and fixing it up. In the process, I discovered Non-Destructive Testing and a 2-year program in the…

In 1998, before the birth of my fourth child, I read the book “Strong Women Stay Young,” by Miriam E. Nelson, Phd. I was fascinated by the cross-section x-rays she showed of bone mass before and after participants started lifting weights. Her research is just as valid for men. You…

Or Bizarre but True Happenings in the Fitness Center Locker Room — I have been surprised since the start of the New Year by some of the locker room occurrences at the gym I attend a few times every week. I want to believe they are committed by first-time attendees, but I am afraid not. I would like to say these discourteous…

And additional tips by “youngsters” in their 80’s and 90's — As I age, I have become more curious about the process and the folks who have some experience with it. I have also been blessed with finding people to befriend who are a bit ahead on the journey and they are willing to share their knowledge. …