Middle Pause

What’s it all about–reality. — Mama was right. I shoulda never cracked my knuckles when I was little. Pain throbs, pulsating from nerve to nerve moving slowly from my second joint to the pointing tip. Sparks ignite to light little fires around the juncture of my right phalanges. I like that term–phalanges–Greek for fingers. …

Look and see what your family or friends have done. — Sometimes we come late to the game. But that’s okay. We need to know what we want to do, especially as we age. When you finally have the time to explore different avenues of creativity, you may be surprised by what you find. Grandma My grandmother was from the generation that…

The quality of our questions determines the quality of our lives — At my church, we select a monthly theme. Given how scary and crazy things have been lately we chose Affirming Faith in the Evolution of Humanity as July’s theme. We want to know, and hopefully be reassured that indeed humanity is evolving, making progress despite appearances to the contrary. We’re…

Open your life to friends and see where you go. — I was talking with an old friend yesterday on my phone via messenger. This is a friend I met through a writing class about 10 years ago. The class was an 8-week course on how to get your novel finished. Fran I had never taken a writing class before and had…

I am worthy — Over the last six weeks, my fatigue has returned, as has the incapacitation which accompanies it. I have produced a weekly article for my Gentle Creative publication, but I have done little else. I saw my wonderful homeopathist last week and, thankfully, I am improving. I have often been plagued…

Why we menopausal women especially should be concerned — My doctor wants me to take Lipitor to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The so-called side effects scare me. But so does having a stroke or heart attack, which could prove fatal. My mom has cardio-pulmonary hypertension. My dad died of a heart attack in his mid-fifties after having triple…

Laughing together keeps us connected. — Laughing is the best medicine. At the risk of being too cheesy, too vomitously sentimental, laughter truly is the best medicine, especially in a marriage. This morning I was texting my husband, Jud, about this writing prompt and question, what makes me laugh? “And you just wrote, Jud Jud Jud Jud Jud Jud Jud Jud…

Do you do one of them more often than the other? — It turns out, that laughter and tears are kissing cousins. They both serve to release and relieve stress and tension. According to Pete Cann’s Canned Laughter website: Cortisol is a hormone that is released in response to stress and low blood-glucose concentration. Adrenaline is another stress hormone. It is produced…