Commentary Archives - Page 68 of 72 - Mothering in the Middle

Summer Afternoon

by Valerie Gillies

September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret.” Alexander Theroux

Just as I get into the swing of the warmth and long days, reduced to-do list, and sanctioned laziness, the beginning of school looms on the horizon. As much as I think I never want the sultry days of August to end, I start to look forward to the change. It’s not only because I can’t wait to pawn the children off on unsuspecting, captive teachers—really! No, there’s something about the quality of the light in the morning, a feeling in the air of expectancy and starting over, and a bittersweet letting go that I adore. New books, pencils, clothes and shoes. Shopping for things that are kept safely in anticipation of that first, nervous day; the re-setting of life to a familiar, but slightly altered agenda. […]

The Inevitable Question Has Been Asked

by Denise Mooney

On a recent family vacation, I had the unfortunate experience of being asked the inevitable question. To my chagrin, it happened a decade or two sooner than I had expected. Drum roll please. “Is that your grand-daughter?” What?! Are you kidding me?! […]

The Sandwich Generation and Their Parents’ Tarnished Golden Years

By Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D. and Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D

Parents of Baby Boomers look toward their sixties, seventies and eighties as golden years, with the chance to enjoy the fruits of their labors. But what happens when those days become tarnished gold? What if nothing you or your parents do can restore the shine you all were expecting? This is what faces the Sandwich Generation each year when their parents are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, senile dementia or stroke. […]

Lucky Doubles (A Commentary)

by Karen Hug-Nagy

Well, I’m ten years into this midlife mothering experience, and at 55, I’m still learning how to become a Mom. I begged the fertility gods for one child and I hit the jackpot, twins! I thought the infertility rollercoaster was complicated. Parenting two is more like trying to keep up with mini-rockets on a mission. […]

Celebrity Moms Over 40 (Or, Which Moms are the Real Celebrities?)

by Cyma Shapiro

Halle Berry, Sarah Palin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman, Selma Hayek, Julia Roberts, Lisa Hartman Black, Sheryl Crow, Jane Seymour, Helen Hunt, Courtney Cox Arquette, Mariah Carey, Meryl Streep, Brooke Shields, Madonna, Susan Sarandon, Annette Benning, Holly Hunter, Cheryl Tiegs, Jane Kaczmarek, Mimi Rogers, Nancy Grace, Marcia Cross, Naomi Watts, Iman, Helen Hunt

It Finally Happened

by Andrea Lynn

It finally happened. Claire, 3, got the daddy question. As in, “Why don’t you have a daddy?” Though, to be completely accurate, the 4-year-old friend who was over for a playdate phrased it less aggressively, as: “I have a mommy and a daddy.” Pause. Wait for response. I was in the kitchen with my daughter and her curious friend, who we know quite well. Without appearing interested in their conversation, I was waiting for Claire’s response as well. And it was a good one. “I have a mommy,” she said, quite simply. The friend tried again. “I have both. You don’t have a daddy.” Claire thought about this. “I have a sister,” she replied. Score! A perfect response. I was so proud. […]

Found In…the Athens Report (May 27, 2011) by Leah Hardy

by Leah Hardy

Almost ten years ago, I wrote a rather smug article for a glossy magazine extolling the virtues of late motherhood. At the age of 38 I’d just had my first child, and I waxed lyrical about how I felt it was the perfect age to embark upon motherhood. […]

Speechless

by Valerie Gillies

“No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear.” C.S. Lewis

Last week, on a day when I paid my bills, went to the dentist, and did exactly 4 loads of laundry, I got a phone call that let me know a close relative had advanced ovarian cancer. I slept fitfully that night, woke to a beautiful day, made some strawberry rhubarb jam, met with clients, did paperwork, ran errands, and somewhere in the flurry of the day and evening a text came through on my phone. One of my daughter’s classmates, an endearing 9 year old with a huge smile–aneurism, stroke, coma. This morning, she was gone. […]

Self-Invention: The Bond Among Women of All Generations

by Suzanne Braun Levine

One thing about being an older mother is that you are constantly reminded of the truism that age doesn’t really describe the shape of a person’s life. Nor does our place on the family tree, the generation we are assigned to at birth. When my daughter was born I was 44, old enough to be her grandmother. When she went to school, I was old enough to be her teachers’ (and her friends parents’) mother. At the same time my contemporaries had long since forgotten about coping with babies and young children – they were on to the joys of grandchildren. My most meaningful cohort was other women with children my children’s age, but not my age themselves. […]

Am I Invisible? (Or, Where Are We All Heading?)

by Cyma Shapiro

I think the dilemma started when my Physician’s Assistant (PA) of ten years left my MD’s office last month for another medical practice. Within a flash, all my years of personal coddling, instant communication (I was given her “inside” phone number) and very good health care were eradicated for this: I am now just another number, another cog in the wheel/larger scheme of things. Right now, I feel very, very unimportant. […]