Every time I find a makeup or moisturizer I love, the company discontinues the brand to replace it with something "improved" and, ahem, more expensive. So there I was at Macy's, bemoaning my ill-fortune, when I got to talking with one of the cosmetic counter executives. Before long, as often happens when baby boomers 50 plus collide in public, we had soon spilled much of our life stories--going way back to when we both spent the same summer backpacking through Europe (think 60's...)

While waiting to get my car washed yesterday (a long, drawn-out affair for such a little car...) I was thumbing through one of the books that the car washers had put on the counter for sale. It's a book of cartoons aimed to make women fifty up laugh. Okay, so some of the jokes were funny--but the drawings definitively did not. We do not have bouffant grey bubble heads on sunken, upholstered figures (at least most of us don't have the bouffant part--and Armani can do wonders for gravity-challenged body parts...) I meant to look at when the book was published, but clearly, it was meant for a whole other generation. The thing is, it's still being sold now--and does more damage than levity for any one who flips through the pages and buys into the notion that once we get past fifty, we lose all sense of style! That said, next time I get the car washed, I'll look up some of the funnier jokes to share with you...
Grateful to be alive! Grateful to be blogging! Grateful to have you reading! And together, grateful to be gra-defying the stereotypes!
Carol Orsborn

Some people have the knack for keeping their long distance relationships vital and alive over time. Sadly, apparently I do not. It's not that I don't treasure my friendships. I have had confidants, best friends, soul mates in every city along the way. (And while I believe myself at heart to be a nester, following my and/or Dan's ambitions have often taken precedence, leading us on a series of moves over time.)

I admit it. I've just spent several hours vegging out in front of the TV. (I call it market research.) And besides The Golden Girls (reruns) and Martha Stewart (promos for her new show), as far as women over fifty go, it's been a vast wasteland tonight, indeed.

This is the season of economic emancipation towards which we have lusted lo these many years: youngest just graduated from college. Not that we don't have a modest agreed-upon financial bridge for her to "the real world", where beloved grown daughter is to get a job, medical and car insurance and even buy her own shoes.