I read recently about a woman, a new mom, in another country who had wanted to have a baby for all of her married life, which was a very long time considering her age as of this writing, but was unable to. Finally, she conceived at the tender age of seventy, or something close to assisted living age.
Doing the transformation tango is not easy. After two years of back trouble, I have decided it is time to do what that seventy year-old woman did (not the one who got pregnant) and transform myself, although being pregnant would certainly qualify as a transformational experience. This was a woman who, in her fifties, or sixties, decided she wanted to be in phenomenal shape for the rest of her life, and knew it would require more than just a stroll around the block. I am not sure why I decided to do the transformational tango now; it wasn’t the advent of the new year that pushed me over the edge.
A week ago I decided to do the Transformation Tango with the cardio barre workout. The transforming tango is not easy to do. In fact, I have been standing in a puddle of sweat during each workout. My goal is to transform myself physically as much as possible in the space of three months, in time for a landmark birthday. New Year’s resolutions mean little to me, but I did get inspired by the calendar in another way.
Recently, I wrote about how I was weeding out, once again, books and other messes from my back room. My Teeter Hang-Up was blocking a bookcase, and as I struggled to pull all the books off the shelves so I could dust them, I found a little book called, ‘The Best Kept Secrets In America’.
With the advent of summer and no school, I find myself (not unexpectedly) unemployed. At first, it appeared that I had nothing to do. This is incorrect. This gives me lots (and lots!) of time to do whatever I want to do. Besides applying for multiple jobs, cleaning out closets that don’t need grooming and thereby making me subsequently rescue a favorite garment from the giveaway box, I am also having to check my toothbrush to make sure I remembered to brush that day.
I am compiling a list of ways that I know I am officially of the ‘older generation’. This isn’t easy for Boomers to wrap their minds around, y’know. Especially when we are still listening to the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. We still think we can change the world, but we’re too busy to try. We salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with fervor, but remember the days when our contemporaries burned the flag, and we understand why they felt that way. We love all the new gadgets, but are perfectly happy without them. We know we should dress our ‘age’, but take things from our kids’ closets, anyway. Following are other ways things have changed:
1. Nothing surprises you anymore.
2. You hear the ‘hidden’ agenda in everyone’s statements, and take nothing for granted.
3. Everyone younger is suddenly as ‘cute as a button’.
4. Sneezing unexpectedly can be very risky.
This last week on ‘A Woman’s Guide To Everything’ radio show on Blog Talk Radio (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gigijwolf/2012/01/05/a-womans-guide-to-everything-a-long-island-christmas), I talked with a friend who has been a stay-at-home mom for the last twelve years, and will soon go back to work outside the home. She has found a job, and I jumped at the chance to get her insights on the show, because she has turned some of the tenets of the recent surveys I’ve read on their ears. What was especially encouraging was that age didn’t appear to be a disadvantage, and her experience seemed to count. (The browser address for the episode keeps reflecting another episode I did with Carl Dascole, but it is actually the ‘Back To Work’ episode).
I recently gave a friend some unsolicited advice (no! not me!) garnished with the caveat that he may find it ‘new age’ and creepy, but which has worked for me, many times. I learned it from my guy, who regularly practices it. Whenever he gets an ache or a pain, a symptom that is causing him discomfort, he places his hand over the spot, and finds a few quiet minutes to concentrate on it. He visualizes it as being pain-free, and as being flooded with healthy red and white blood cells.
Recently, I had Carl Dascole as a guest on my radio show, ‘A Woman’s Guide To Everything’. During our talk on the show, he mentioned a phrase in passing, ‘transient art’. I had never heard this phrase before; it was in the context of why a trained dressage horse would command a sales price of two million dollars and upward.
Earlier this week, on my radio show ‘A Woman’s Guide To Everything’ on Blog Talk Radio, I featured a former Pan Am colleague, and Gidget look-a-alike, Betsy Quiroz. She has had to live with severe migraines for many years, and is very knowledgeable about them. The show can be found in the archives on the website under the name of the show. Everyone can be affected by migraines, including children.
