Tag: aging

In a Laundry Room on Virgin Gorda

Jennifer M. Smith

I was on Virgin Gorda, ashore at 8:00 a.m. doing my last loads of laundry before the trip south. Out of the wash and into the dryers, I was waiting to start folding. In came the cleaning lady, an older black woman, local, probably in her late sixties. “Good morning,” Read more

Kaleidoscope Vision

Arlene Antoinette

look at me as if through the lens of a broken Kaleidoscope and you will see a new kind of woman living outside your limited notion of a well adjusted female i am a husbandless childless menopausal caregiver a keeper of faded dreams an overweight non exercising lump of aging Read more

Secret Life of Nimu

Suman Rathore Shah

A story of grief, healing and hope. The essay traces a woman’s trip to her hometown after the death of her husband. The traditions that aid the process of grieving and a daughter’s realization about her mother’s resilience and watching her claim herself back. “She has a pacemaker; you cannot Read more

The Time I Tried Botox

Stephanie Harper

I think of all the women I admire most in my life, the ones who smile to expose years of laughter at the corners of their eyes or the sides of their mouths and I find so much beauty in that. So much grace in the lines of their foreheads, or the way a strong neck can still look so ready to shoulder so many burdens, even as the skin has begun to thin and sag just the slightest. There is something exquisite in the thin wisps of silver in my mother’s hair. The strands are so clearly defined, I can almost count them individually, as though I know how she earned every one.

My Father’s Advocate: Aging Parents and the Impact of Positive Medical Planning

Renee DeMont

“What I’m saying is, you could drop dead at any moment.” Blunt, direct and impatient, my father’s cardiologist meant what he said. Didn’t even flinch. “So what you are saying is, my father’s heart has weakened since the last MRI six months ago?” “Yes. One side is overcompensating for the Read more