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Just Life Archives - All The Single Girlfriends

On Being Laid-up for 4 Weeks…...

Feb 13, 2013 by

On Being Laid-up for 4 Weeks…

I recently had the pleasure of undergoing surgery on my torn Achilles tendon. The upside of the surgery is that I will be able to get back to all the things I love doing (hiking, kayaking, skiing).  The downside, I’ve had to spend the past 4 weeks either in bed or chair with my foot elevated (toes higher than nose, as they say). It all started years ago when I underwent surgery to fix a completely torn meniscus in my knee.  You’d think that would fix things, right?  Well, I was one of the 40 million who had little to no health insurance and what I did have would not cover PT unless it was post surgery.  That’s why I had the knee operated on in the first place, even through the doctor recommended...

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Past Forward

Jan 2, 2013 by

Past Forward

The past year had a variety of big and little events that created shifts in how I see the world. On the surface they covered the range from surprising and hopeful, to difficult to scary. On the plus side: I gained increasing comfort with my new role as Executive Director of an organization whose mission is to help people age positively and creatively; I taught 3 new courses made several new friends, and have a stronger sense of myself as both a Leader and an Elder. The more difficult events included a surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma from my chin that was more invasive and more noticeable than I anticipated and my sweet 2006 Honda being totaled by a distracted person who ran a red light. The cancer is gone and I...

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Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

Jan 1, 2013 by

Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

The 2012 Holiday Season for this Single Girlfriends is one of profound gratitude. My second breast biopsy came back negative. That is despite the fact that breast/colon cancer tends to cluster in families and that it does in my family. My eyes are okay. My teeth, at least the ones which matter, are keeps, for the current time. I also have learned to make friends, something I initially got the hang of in the Single Girlfriends. As we Baby Boomers used to say in our youth, “My dance card is full.” People are coming into my life, rather than my chasing them. Toby Bloomberg helped make this possible. Thanks, Toby. In addition, my business is going along fine. I have reconfigured it from the focus on social media (no $, big glut) back to my...

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Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

Jan 1, 2013 by

Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

As 2013 opens its door to us we stand on the threshold of seemingly unlimited possibilities. However, as  I watch the rain drops fall (and think thank goodness it’s not snowing in Atlanta!)  it seems like I’ve been given a small gift to begin the new year. With the gray clouds overhead today I don’t feel a need to go and do. There will be time to think about that  in the 364 days to come. Today is for taking a small breath, to listen to the quiet, to be satisfied with the now without the pressure of achieving goals. There will be time to think about that in the 364 days to come. Happiness comes in unexpected ways. Today it’s a rain drop. Tomorrow it might be something that drives career success or the nurturing of...

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Baby Boomers: New Families?

Nov 27, 2012 by

Baby Boomers: New Families?

Once Randy dies, that’s it.  No more pets.” That’s what my 64-year-old neighbor told me several months ago.  I agreed. Last February I had to put to sleep my Havana Brown feline Carlotta.  It was horrific for me and worse for her soulmate black coal feline Jason.  I vowed that when Jason, who is 17, passes over, that’s it. No more animal companions. I could not get through pet grief again. Also, I have seen what happens too often to pets when their “parent” dies.  Relatives tend to drop them off at the shelter or even let them run loose on the street, despite the legal contract of the will which specified and funded the care instructions. That was that. This summer Randy, an exotic bird, had to be put down because his injury...

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The Conversation Is Launched

Sep 20, 2012 by

The Conversation Is Launched

The conversation has been launched ladies on re-defining the New Face Beauty! While this conversation has been in my mind over the last 20 years, I first started writing about it this past April in response to Ashley Judd’s outcry against the media for their gross representation of her weight and looks. It was my first commentary against the media for their portrayal of what beauty is and should be based on their reporting, reality TV, and the movie industry in general. Since then I’ve written 2 more posts on what we can do about it, and the fashion industries part in this conversation.  I suspect there are many more in the works. Why is this an important subject for me personally as well as socially? Growing up I lived in a household with 4 women...

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Beauty is as Beauty Does

Aug 13, 2012 by

Beauty is as Beauty Does

That’s what my mother used to tell me, back in the ancient days of my youth. I’d be all dressed up for a special occasion, preening in front of the mirror, and she’d come up behind me and give me a small smile, then fling that dinger at me. “Beauty is as beauty does.” Since I never considered myself beautiful, I was clueless. What did she mean?  I seldom pondered the answer to my own question. I had places to go. I know what she meant, now. I know she was trying to tell me to behave; that my looks could get me in trouble. But, as a teenager, all I could think was – “Do I look all right? Is my eyeliner straight? Is my blouse tight enough?” Yes, I was fortunate to...

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Cats in the Gap (A Memorial Essay)...

Jul 31, 2012 by

Cats in the Gap (A Memorial Essay)

It’s 93 degrees and the sun is relentless.  It’s hard to dig in the dry Colorado dirt, but I’ve done this before.  I know I’ll need the rubber mallet and a tent stake to pry out the rocks.  I’ll need the square shovel to shave down the sides, making room for the box, and the big shovel to carry out the loosened dirt. The sharp shovel cuts through the tree roots, and I feel every blow and break.  The roots, sheathed in red, scream a painful mess of color into the soil.  I don’t know which tree I’ve severed, lilac, elm or fir, but I know how it feels. We called Snowball the Last Cat Standing.  He lived the longest of the three and a full year from the time of the first cat’s...

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Why Colorado Springs Loves Fire Fighters...

Jul 9, 2012 by

Why Colorado Springs Loves Fire Fighters

I did not know about the trails. The wildfire burned through the neighborhood that had served as a refuge for me the year after my husband died. Tired, I had rented a townhouse after we moved across the country from that place of ghosts and trouble. We lived for a year surrounded by meadows; a quiet, orderly subdivision with just enough mice to keep the cats occupied. I walked its streets, up and down the hills, admiring the wild sunflowers. I remember it as an oasis in the chaos of living a life. That is until chaos, in the form of high heat, low humidity and flames found the neighborhood this past week. I stand, stunned, in the familiar parking lot of the dentist office a week after the conflagration Sure, I saw the pictures of the fire...

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Lessons on Life from Sir Noel Coward...

Jul 2, 2012 by

Lessons on Life from Sir Noel Coward

You ever know when a good quote will come in handy. I was asked to appear on the local Fox News channel last week to respond to a newly published study showing that loneliness can be fatal to seniors. The study confirms what many people in the aging field know: loneliness is bad for your health and people who feel isolated are at high risk for a range of unhealthy results, death being the ultimate bad result. I am not sure how the host of the show found my organization, but I assume he did a quick search of the word Aging and found us. (My unofficial ‘mission’ is that whenever anybody puts the word ‘Creative’ in front of the word ‘Aging’, they think of us: Northwest Center for Creative Aging.  So whatever the...

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In Case Of Emergency Break Glass...

Jun 19, 2012 by

In Case Of Emergency Break Glass

While being alone in the world has tremendous advantages, there is one major disadvantage – accidents. And accidents to tend to occur when you least expect them. Case in point, last year when I was in an automobile accident – exactly one week from my birthday a driver, on her mobile phone no less, hit my car from behind forcing me into the vehicle in front of me. My car was totaled, my ribs were cracked.  The adrenaline was rushing so quickly through my veins that I could not feel anything other than a sharp pain in my abdomen and shoulder. Having been hit so hard, the airbags in my vehicle deployed and I was hit directly in the face by the drivers’s side airbag. Smoke and this strange white dust were filling my...

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Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends...

May 21, 2012 by

Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends

Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends is an All The Singles Girlfriend series that shines a virtual spotlight on amazing women who have been supporting women and girls over a period of time. For so many of our All The Single Girlfriend community there is a very, special role that we play that is often over looked or simply taken for granted by much of our culture especially in the western world.  We are called: ThIa. Tía. Faster. Moster. Teta. Täti. Tante. Emtë. Teze. Ciocia. Tia. Aunt. Auntie.  Melanie Notkin knew first hand the the precious joy and value of being an aunt. In 2008, she launched an online community, Savvy Aunties, to bring awareness and celebrate the value of the modern aunt. From that platform Melanie went on to create an influential lifestyle brand that resulted in something even...

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