Daily Living Archives - Page 73 of 74 - Mothering in the Middle

Putting the Children First

by Andrea Lynn

I came to motherhood late, which means I spent many years – most of my life – putting myself first. I’ve always been single, and independent, so I’ve had to take care of myself. But I’ve also been able to indulge myself. To eat what I wanted, when I wanted. To go out. To read. To sleep in. To exercise. To travel. To change my schedule at the drop of a hat. To save money and to spend money. Years and years – okay, decades – of worrying only about myself, my happiness, my comfort, my success. […]

Surrender to the Wind

by Valerie Gillies

We have them, in tightly balled fists. Carefully chosen, each has been kept for a good reason. Most felt deliciously smooth when acquired—just right. Now, they cut us like sharp bits of gravel. Yet, to toss them out is more than we can bear. Instead we withstand pain, expend energy, and often go through extreme gyrations to hold on to them. What are they? […]

Kodak Moments

by Cyma Shapiro

Yesterday, my son bounded up to me with so much energy and unbridled joy that I thought I would burst with pride. A few days ago, my daughter smiled her goofy school-girl smile and I promised myself that that image would remain an indelible mark on my brain until the day I die. […]

Rebonding With Your Husband in Midlife (AKA: Of Men and Manure)

by Julie Donner Andersen

Another secret to surviving marriage in midlife is to share a hobby together, say the experts. It will renew your bond, and give you something to talk about over dinner besides the war in the Middle East or the irony of how your youngest kid resembles the mailman, they advise. […]

Possibility

by Robin Gorman Newman

I need to feel like life holds possibility.

Since becoming a midlife mother, there are days when things feel so predictable, almost stagnant, that I find myself questioning my choice to parent. Being a stay at home mom who works from home in the suburbs was my choice, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. I know there’s a big world out there that doesn’t involve scheduling play dates, bath time, homework, etc., and I crave it. […]

The Changing Body

by Peg O'Neill

Like many women of various ages, I have an old pair of jeans in my closet that no longer fits. Why I haven’t donated them to some anonymous, younger, lithe woman who shops at the Goodwill store is complicated, and not entirely clear even to myself. But I think it has something to do with a belief, or hope, that I’ll be able to fit into them again, no problem, with just a subtle tweaking of my activity level and eating habits. […]

Bad Mother

by Andrea Lynn

It is the era of the Bad Mother confessional. Proud recounting of the slacker things we do as moms, the ways in which we defiantly refuse to compete for the Mother of the Year award. Everywhere one turns, it seems, mothers are unashamedly sharing the ways at which they don’t quite meet the needs of their children. […]

Making Sense of it All

by Cyma Shapiro

I’ve had several occasions, lately, to just ponder the state of things, and I find myself coming up short.

Last Sunday, a “60 Minutes” expose revealed that nearly 25% of all school-aged children will soon live in families falling below the poverty line. A friend of mine, leaving her husband for another man, shuts the door on me when I show up spontaneously to meet him, saying that he hates unscheduled meetings and our future introductions should take place away from the house. Another friend is teetering dangerously into mental illness. […]

Don’t “Shop Till You Drop” A Few Pounds

by Julie Donner Andersen

At the moment, I am wearing a pair of stretchy black stirrup pants. One of the elastic bands under my foot has just snapped and now flaps behind the heel of my shoe. There’s a hole the size of a quarter in the crotch, making it impossible for me to sit Indian style on any given floor (like you really believed this middle-aged, flexibility-of-steel mommy could sit in such a way?). […]

Surviving New Midlife Motherhood

by Joely Johnson Mork

This topic is not what this blog post was going to be about. I was going to write about something much lighter, more manageable, and less anxiety provoking. But what has been on my mind for the past few weeks is survival. How do women survive motherhood? How do women like us, who have lived their lives differently for so long, suddenly (or not so suddenly) find themselves mothers and manage to keep working, thinking, breathing? I am unashamed to say I need to know. Because I am finding myself in a corner, with nowhere to run but here. […]