The Grandma Syndrome: Uh-Oh, Is it Starting? (A Halloween Post)

by Cyma Shapiro

I’ve withstood the ravages of time:  I have not yet been called “Grandma,” am still courted by those younger than I, and I still do not get the looks that others often get (“others” with gray hair, wrinkles, and sagging bodies).  So far, I’m sitting like the Cheshire Cat, grinning from ear-to-ear about my little dirty secret. (You know, the one about my real age).

However, I do believe that it is all about to change. (Uh-OH!) […]

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Freezing My Eggs – III (Part V of V)

by MeiMei Fox

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

Yesterday I was describing to a wise older friend my emotional ups and downs of the past month as I’ve gone through the process of freezing my eggs. 

“There have been many times in the five years that have passed since my divorce when I felt like a failure for not having a family of my own,” I told her. “This egg freezing process has forced me to confront the self-doubts that have hung around in the shadows: ‘What’s wrong with me? I screwed up. I’m a loser for being 37 and childless and alone.’ […]

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A Call to Duty (In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month)

by Jane Samuel

Sometime in the fall I missed my call to duty. The reminder letter came reminding me that I was due for my annual mammogram. But I thought, or maybe hoped, that I wasn’t due for another six months. Seriously, it seemed like just a few months ago I had been there. So I put the letter aside with plans to call and confirm it was indeed time. But time got away from me and before I knew it Spring was knocking on the door and my doctor was asking me why I hadn’t had my mammogram in the fall. Ooops. […]

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The Older Cousins

by Andrea Lynn

My brother and I are only 21 months apart, so for most of our lives, he went first and I followed soon after. School, swimming lessons, learning to drive, off to university. I`d watch him go, and take mental notes, and I`d be along, two years later. We were a little competitive, but different enough in interests and personalities that it never got out of hand. I confess that when we both graduated and started our first jobs, we compared salaries for a while. I`d be ahead by a few thousand, and then he`d catch up. But then he had a period of unemployment and comparisons became unseemly – good thing, because now I`d have to double my pay to get anywhere near his. While he was unemployed, he went back to school to get his executive MBA, to add to his engineering degree. Which was, as it turned out, a sound financial decision. […]

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Step 2 (Journey of a New Foster-to-Adopt Midlife Mom)

I swear it took a full ten days,  if not more, for the social service agency to call me. I was starting to think they would not call, but they did, or rather, she did. The foster-parent recruiter or something like that left me a message. I waited one full day (gulp) before I called her back. It was Friday. I was calling her cell phone number, but she was not working. She was, however, in the shower. This was not going well, I fretted.

[…]

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Freezing My Eggs – II (Part IV of V)

by MeiMei Fox

18 Buns in the Icebox

The bad news is I feel like crap. My ovaries ache when I walk (I kid you not—it is a bizarre sensation). My rock-hard stomach juts out so much that I can’t fit into my pants. The discomfort in my belly region has kept me up every night this week. […]

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In Praise of Older Mothers

by Barbara Hannah Grufferman

Full disclosure: I am an older mother. My first daughter was born when I was almost 38, and my youngest entered the world three days before my 41st birthday. Even though I’m 54 and going through the tumultuous teenage years, I wouldn’t have it any other way. […]

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In Honor of World Menopause Day – October 18th

by Valerie Gillies

I was probably the only person alive who wasn’t aware that October 18th is World Menopause Day.  World.   Can you imagine?

It took me back a bit. Who on earth would have thought this was something to commemorate?  What am I missing?  I suppose it could be the contribution hot flashes make to global warming, the hormonal swings, perhaps the amazing determination the female body can show in hanging onto every single calorie it ingests and instantaneously storing it as fat on what used to be a waistline.  But no, although those features of ‘the change’ are truly awe inspiring, I will take it that it is about finally saying goodbye to a not so wanted friend, that sweet feeling of relief upon closing the door after a houseguest has overstayed her welcome. […]

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Give Up the Blame Game and Try Forgiving for Conception

by Cynthia Wilson James

Seldom does a month go by that I don’t talk to a woman who hasn’t tormented herself for not being able to get pregnant over 35 or 40.  The reasons vary, but the popular ones are not marrying the right man, marrying too late, not paying attention to her biological clock and paying too much attention to her career-oriented. […]

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