As a teenager, I saw the Barbra Streisand/Robert Redford movie The Way We Were and cried. As the theater lights went up, my mother looked at my tear-streaked face and commented dryly, “You really don’t know true sadness yet, do you?” In that moment, I … Continue reading
In 1994, Mary Pipher wrote Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, a groundbreaking, bestselling book examining the complicated lives of teenage girls. It was the result of her work as a clinical psychologist with this age group. And i… Continue reading
For one long semester in 1974, my heart was a tomb. I didn’t know a soul on the campus of George Mason University — then, strictly a commuter college in Fairfax, Va. Despite 5,000 students milling around me, I felt like the only person on Earth. Howeve… Continue reading
Paula Durlofsky may be a psychologist, but that hardly made her immune last fall to the emotional wallop of her second daughter heading off to college, leaving Durlofsky and her husband Larry, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., living in what felt like an extremely em… Continue reading
After less than a year as a widower, my then 72-year-old father Al decided, on occasion, to change the radio station to something other than 24-hour news, to close the bedroom window (at least halfway) on chilly nights and to sometimes, without protest… Continue reading
“Someday, some little girl who’s probably not even born yet is going to steal you away from me, and I hate her already.” No, I didn’t say it and I don’t remember even thinking it when my son was born, although when I met my daughter-in law to be, somet… Continue reading
Cristobal Trejo, a worker at the famed Churchill Downs racetrack, provides daily care for the horses he loves. Carol Challas, a breast cancer survivor, founded the Derby City Dragons, a supportive and dedicated dragon boat team with 40 members, compris… Continue reading
Editor’s Note: This is a part of our Loneliness + Isolation series brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. It’s 9 a.m. on a Wednesday, and Kathleen, the moderator for today’s morning Gratitude Group on Well Connected, is taking a friendly roll cal… Continue reading
Librarians. Airplane mechanics. Radiologists. Letter carriers. Musicians. Hotel workers. Glaziers. Actors. House painters. Labor unions represent individuals in these professions and others, well beyond the more commonly known unionized jobs such as te… Continue reading
Editor’s Note: In April, we asked Next Avenue readers to submit their questions about dating and relationships after 50. We received many thoughtful inquiries that touched on a wide range of topics. This story is the final installment of our summer ser… Continue reading