Women Over 50 Archives - Mothering in the Middle

Feeling Very Mortal – The Tale Of a Weekend Warrior

by Lydia Chiappetti

Sprawled in the middle of the road, my son kneeling beside me, I asked, “Why are you home from college?” Not sure if I had said this out loud or merely thought it, I watched his face for signs of understanding. It hurt to keep my eyes open. But in those short seconds I saw the fright in his eyes.

“Mom, I graduated two years ago. I’m home for the 4^th of July. Remember?”

Fuzzy- headed and aching in every joint, I replayed what might have happened. How strange not to be in charge. It was a reversal to be on the receiving end of my son’s concern. He had never seen me in such a weakened state. I prided myself on being invincible, at least in his eyes. […]

Soul Contracts – Do Our Children Choose Us?

by Jo Beth Young

Angel and Girl on Hill by Jo Beth Young

The Angels are always adamant that we have a beautiful karmic bond with the Children we choose and that choose us, whether they be by birth, adoption or fostering.

Those of us familiar with Soul Contracts won’t find this too hard to understand when we realize that all of our relationships, but particularly those of intimacy and depth, are all pre destined and chosen mainly in the spirit state before birth.

In the last year I’ve started to ‘see’ these bonds of contracts and soul seed paths behind people when they come for readings. They look remarkable; a cross between a star map and a string of pearls. Each strand showing us the agreements and ‘destiny’ points on our journey, with as much time and leeway as our free will wishes to join up dot to dot! […]

Cyma Shapiro Interviews Suzanne Braun Levine, Author of You Gotta Have Girlfriends

Q: On the heels of your last book How We Love Now: Women Talk About Intimacy After Fifty, what compelled you to write this new book?

With each book about women of my generation – Inventing the Rest of Our Lives, Fifty Is the New Fifty, How We Love Now – I talked to more women, did more research, and learned more about the exciting new stage of life we are exploring. Every interview, no matter how wide-ranging, eventually got to the subject of girlfriends. “I couldn’t have done it without my girlfriends!” was the phrase I heard over and over again. I realized that I needed to write a book that focused on that life-enhancing subject. Hence, my just-out e-book You Gotta Have Girlfriends: A Post-Fifty Posse is Good for Your Health. […]

My Love Will Not Let You Down

by Ellie Stoneley

At this time of year, when the tills of florists, card shops and chocolate emporia go “ker-ching,” the world is suddenly filled with red heart-shaped helium balloons, and I’ve often been known to become a little cynical.

I love ‘love’, and I love being told I’m loved and I love loving the people I love, but, and it is a big, but, I do struggle with the huge amount of money spent at Valentine’s Day on meals that are that bit more expensive than they usually are and, well, the whole thing really. I used to love the idea of anonymous Valentine’s cards and remember trying to disguise my writing in them at school or trying to decipher coded messages to see if I could work out who a card was from. I also know and do remember the bitter disappointment when no card arrived, or if the rose that did come wasn’t a huge bunch of them. (Yes, I was that shallow as a teenager … and constantly disappointed!!!) […]

10 Reasons I Love Myself

by Ann Sheybani

image courtesy of flickr.com

I love, love, love Gala Darling. Her site is all about radical self-love. My favorite among her posts: 100 Ways You Can Start Loving Yourself Right Now. In it she says:

“Make lists of reasons why you love yourself… & write down (or keep mental lists) of the compliments other people give you. We’re so quick to believe people when they say nasty, unkind or “brutally honest” (ahem, cruel) things to or about us, & we discard all the times we’re told how amazing, beautiful or intelligent we are. Usually this is because our sense of self-doubt is stronger than our self-love. If you can build up the love side of things, this will begin to change.” […]

Interview with Josie Iselin, Author of Heart Stones and Sea Glass Hearts

by Cyma Shapiro

Dear Reader: Heart Stones is my most favorite Valentine’s Day book, ever. I own and have given several of Josie’s books for presents. MitM is honored to feature her, for Valentine’s Day.

Q: Josie, your first book is called Loving Blind/Seeing Red: A Mother’s Decade. It features a series of images with connecting anecdotes about life with small kids which was inspired by your earliest path through motherhood. As the mother of three children, now ranging in age from 15 to 20, they appear to be your driving force, motivation and inspiration. Please tell me more about your journey with them and how it has contributed to your finding your life’s work.

I had my first baby (20 years ago nearly today in fact!) at midwinter break in the second of three years of an MFA program and when done, I thought I would be teaching pretty consistently. But teaching in the arts is initially a transient thing…The reality was that the best economic model for our family was for me to be home with the kids…and it was a gift to us as a family and to me as an artist. My studio is just downstairs (through the backyard) from the kitchen and my work and life are intertwined, physically as well as psychically. My kids and my husband always inspire me to do better work. […]

It’s My Birth Date And I’ll Lie If I Want To…

by Ramona Duoba

Image courtesy of wmphoenixopen.com

If turning 50 wasn’t bad enough I have a daughter who has taken a keen interest in my age. It’s probably because she doesn’t know how old I really am.

Being obsessed with aging or anti-aging is a way of life for many women, but has the obsession gone too far when you can’t be truthful with your own daughter? I suppose many people would say I’m setting her up, or that my inability to tell the truth about my age is an example of self-loathing or some deep-rooted trauma that I haven’t come to terms with. It’s not. I just don’t like aging. It’s that simple. There’s nothing wonderful about looking at a passport photo from 10 years ago and comparing it to the one I have today. There’s a harsh difference. […]

Infertile. Me? No way, I’m Latina!

Liz Raptis Picco

I’m soon to be 60, raising teenage brothers who my husband and I adopted from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua almost fifteen years ago. Being a Latina and native speaker definitely helped when we approached an orphanage in northern Mexico. Being a Latina also made it difficult for me to talk about it openly among my family.

I’ve noticed the same reluctance in Latinas to discuss infertility and IVF, as well as adoption. I follow many wonderful blogs where important issues concerning Latinas are showcased, but I have not yet found one that discusses infertility.

Why? […]

Energy Boosters for the New Year

by Jenilyn Gilbert

Are you feeling exhausted, grumpy or spacey lately? Do you lack energy? As midlife mothers and mothers to be, our energy levels can sometimes be compromised. As our hormones shift so does our energy. Some of us need to slow down and others need to speed things up. Perhaps you need more hours of sleep, or you may find yourself feeling tired around 3 or 4 PM (in the afternoon) or maybe you don’t have the same overall zest you used to have. […]

Teaching Children to Meditate

by Karen Maezen Millier

To begin, understand this: you are never going to teach your child a life skill that you don’t already have.
But I know. You’re not here for yourself. You’re here because you’re worried about your child.

How do you teach children to meditate?
I’m asked about this all the time. Please know that I speak only from my own perspective as a mother and a practitioner. Everyone has his or her own view. Here is mine. […]