(Editor’s Note: In 50 After 50: Reframing the Next Chapter of Your Life, author Maria Leonard Olsen explores ways women can reinvigorate their lives and write new chapters. She tried 50 things in the year she turned 50, in a quest to find joy and auth… Continue reading
Recently, packages that I hadn’t ordered began arriving at our doorstep. A digital kitchen timer, a set of measuring spoons, a vegetable peeler. It’s true our ancient kitchen tools have seen better days, but I never thought of replacing them until my h… Continue reading
There is an enormous stack of paperwork that follows me wherever I go. Even now as I’m settling into a new apartment, I’m staring at the remaining dregs of paperwork I cannot get rid of. For years I have edited down these piles, thrown them out, ripped… Continue reading
When I began to write this article, a woman friend age 89, called. She told me, “I walked six miles today. The Fitbit said that I did my steps.” “How did you feel?” I asked. “Tired,” she replied. “But then Bill wanted to have sex. So, I did that too.” … Continue reading
If you have just learned you are about to be a grandparent, congratulations! You are likely eager to meet this new addition to your family and may already have expectations about the role you will play in his or her life. However, we’ve all heard stori… Continue reading
Before The Widower’s Notebook became an eloquent and poignant memoir, it was six composition-style notebooks filled by the novelist and artist Jonathan Santlofer in a nightly practice which he says “kept him grounded” at a time when he felt wholly “dis… Continue reading
The three things that adults age 55+ need to face are: 1) death is inevitable, 2) decline is (somewhat) preventable and 3) aging is generally manageable. These three things are not exactly the inverse of the good, the bad and the ugly. Two are rather g… Continue reading
Dressing for important occasions can be stress-inducing, but deciding what to wear to a funeral can be doubly fraught. Dealing with grief and feeling overwhelmed, now you must find something suitable to wear, which can be especially hard if you’ve been… Continue reading
I grew up an only child on a country road with lots and lots of books for friends. My parents didn’t hold much stock in toys or games, but books they fully supported. I got books as gifts, bought books through the Weekly Reader order form, and took boo… Continue reading
Question for you, fellow travelers: When you’re on the road alone, for business or pleasure, what do you do about dinner? Do you settle for a burger at the hotel bar, or order room service while you watch a movie? (That’s what the original Liberated Wo… Continue reading