As I brushed my hair and applied mascara, the banter of the morning talk show hosts played in the background. When the women – and men – on television casually mentioned how difficult it is to make new friends…
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Years ago I would often have people over for dinner. We called these events dinner parties, and I would usually invite anywhere between two to five couples. I would spend all day in the kitchen, cooking up a storm and still be busy when the company arrived…
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Attending significant gatherings, whether a class reunion or a family wedding, can make us anxious even as we look forward to them. We’ll be seeing people who knew us way-back-when…
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It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. You’re sitting in your living room, waiting for your child to come home. They’re 5 minutes late. Then 15. Then the panic sets in.
As parents, we wanted to do everything we could to protect our kids from our own imagined fears. If we could have surrounded them in bubble-wrap and assigned them bodyguards, we would have.
But, since our kids would never let us get away with that, we did the next best thing. We nagged, bribed, threatened and cajoled them. We told them, in a hundred different ways, “Don’t talk to strangers.” Then, we hoped for the best. Read More
When you’re working to get your confidence back and build boundaries at 60 and better, there is one “hiding in plain sight” barrier that will keep you from reaching your goals…
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One of the things I’ve noticed about getting older is my tendency to try and keep things neat and predictable. I often long for a life that requires few changes and gives me plenty of time to control my own environment. I get it that this is a pipe dream, but it’s also not what’s really best for me. Read More
I went on a date recently. No, I wasn’t cheating on my husband. I was meeting a friend of a friend for coffee. Much like real “set-ups,” I put this one off for a long time. Our mutual friend had introduced us months ago…
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As we age, we often find it harder to make friends. Many of the friends we still have are those we made as children, teenagers, or as adults with small children. Read More
Once I hit 60, I noticed my group of friends had changed. Through my mid-years it had been an even mix of men and women, mostly couples and a few singles, but now the composition had shifted to 90% women, and single women at that. Read More
The world and how we relate to it has rapidly changed, impacting how we interact with each other, stay in touch, and maintain an active social presence. Read More