Not everyone is meant to charge through the world carrying a spear. From Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, City of Girls I have three terrific children and they are incredibly different from each other. They’re like me in some ways, but then they possess these other qualities I seriously can’t relate to. Sure,...

A story on NPR a couple of weeks ago caught my attention. In it, a researcher tried to answer the question, “What does ‘lazy’ mean?” I’d link to it for you, dear reader, but my search found an NPR story about laziness offered nearly every year! Someone’s obsessed, apparently. But I...

Failure in retirement is not an option Recently, I missed a staffing commitment as a Medium editor. I’d offered to cover someone’s morning shift, but I forgot to write it down or add it to my Google calendar. I’m retired, but now I’m also a writer and a caregiver....

Do you have to be a beast every day? Yes. Yes, you do. What is a beast? Historically, calling a person a beast denoted something negative like they’re rude, crude, and unacceptable. But more contemporary jargon employs the descriptive term, beast, as a compliment for someone who performs at the highest levels. So, indeed,...

When I decided to take early retirement last year, I knew I’d be taking a reduced pension. Financial security is a rather big deal for me (is it for everyone?). I created a budget in Excel and it all looked okay. Still, I thought I might want a side gig...

Losing weight post-menopause is really tricky business. I’m ten years into this phase and I’ve tried numerous solutions. These could also be called stages of denial or even grief over the girlish waistline I once had. This has been my path: a) do nothing, b) cut calories and/or go...

According to Cynthia Thurlow, women over the age of 50 gain an average of 1.5 pounds per year. Indeed. She advocates the intermittent fasting lifestyle to her female patients. Better than any other “diet” as she says,  …it’s free, flexible, and simple. I’ve written twice recently about my JumpStart journeys —...

When I was seven, I received my school librarian’s “most books read” award. I love the library. Free reads every day! Today, I found a “Checked out” slip for Jane Fri**** in my current read. Of the four books listed, three were thrillers, including the one I now have on my...