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At first, I was terrified at the thought of being alone. It happened quickly. One day I was a wife, and then I wasn’t. My husband had died. Yes, I still had children (grown), but they were long gone. I found myself slowly sinking into a depression that was as deep as a cosmic black hole.    I was bereft. What now? And poof! One day, or week, or month, or year later, I climbed my way back to the land of the living. It hit me like an electric shock: I was living alone for the first time in...

It’s countdown time! Much like the excitement and joy we each experienced with the birth of our children (five between us), our latest delivery is conjuring up similar emotions. “Suddenly Single After  50: The Girlfriends’ Guide to Navigating Loss, Restoring Hope, and Rebuilding Your Life,” Rowman & Littlefield (July 2016), will make its appearance July 16. We hope readers will find the book to be a welcoming, life-saving, and friendly resource.  Our losses began first with Barbara on a warm Saturday afternoon when her then-husband turned to her in their remodeled kitchen and announced: “The passion is gone.” And after...

 “Look what I came up with,” Barbara said excitedly in an email to Margaret with an accompanying photo. It’s “The Henry.” Margaret sat there staring at a grilled cheese sandwich on her screen.  Huh? “What am I looking at?” After uproarious laughter, Barbara confessed that she had spotted the Grilled Cheese Academy competition online, which was designed to honor and find more ways to use, yup, cheese, and in this case from Wisconsin and in sandwiches. And the reward was tempting bait: $15,000 for the Grand Prize winner.  “See what you can come up with?” she challenged. I took her...

It's so easy when you're our age to tip in the direction of devoting most of our time to aging parents, grown children, and grandchildren, if we're lucky to have those family members in our lives. Add in work and that's another time zapper and stressor. And, maybe, you also are able to squeeze in time for reading, exercising, and having fun with your partner. What gets shortchanged too often is schmooze time with female friends, who often may be your best listeners, laughing, and wine or Martini drinking buds, and all-around soul mates. They're the ones you can share...

A few months back, I was singing the praises of my contractor and how I had found one who showed up on time each day, worked hard daily, cleaned up, listened, and seem destined to finish the job..and well!  He sort of did but not fully. I spoke too soon, and alas that contractor has now followed in the footsteps of so many others in this profession that I've learned about after writing on the subject of houses and design for decades and having four homes worked on over the course of three decades. Now, at age 60+, I join...