The prompt at my writing group last week was to write about our fears and prejudices regarding aging. Look at what happens when we have no value as sex objects. Look at the discounting of women older than we are. Here is what I wrote: The other evening I had a conversation with a friend about aging and how aging women are treated these days. This woman and I are the same age – born in the same year – and we’re both pretty fit for being eighty-one, since we both exercise every day and have been exercising regularly since we were thirty-six. I started walking every morning on March 23, 2020 – the day my gym closed because of COVID and have not missed a day since. We are both, I’d say, not too bad looking since the wrinkles and sags haven’t taken over our faces yet, and, most importantly, have all our faculties. We can have a coherent conversation on most subjects. In those respects I find myself pretty lucky. I also feel lucky since I’m still writing – I write a short poem … [Read more...]
Really I’m not a broken record
I have a new friend where I live who also writes a blog. But she writes everyday - something, I'm sorry to say, I won't commit to. Plus she adds great illustrations, news topics, trivia questions, and a daily puzzle. This I must say is one fun blog even when she asks pointed questions about the new mask directives and discusses why she doesn't watch the Olympics. And it's not all that serious. She even recommended buying a pair of shoes like her latest ones. Yes, I'm going to buy a pair. Here's her blog address: Joyce@joyceswhatsupblog.com I hope you'll check it out! *** As for me, well, I'm like a broken record. I keep writing and writing about the same old thing - my moving and how I'm feeling about it. Though I hope this latest piece is a little more optimistic. Writing Group Prompt: Write about your comfortable space and what draws you to it or the reverse: Supposedly when I moved to my new apartment in Playa Vista I was moving to a more comfortable space. Leaving my big … [Read more...]
What do I do all day?
People keep asking me what I do all day. They want to know how this new widow spends her time and deals with her loss. Well, first of all I hate the “widow” word. Isn’t there something else we could call a woman whose husband has died? Well, I suppose not. Plus, I really have other things to do than worry about a word or two. Like continuing to work on all the financial records and documents my husband left me to sort out. And bear in mind I was never a party to anything financial going on during our fifty-year marriage. He was the math guy. He called me innumerate. Even so, I have changed over all the accounts to my name and closed some I don’t want to deal with. I’ve also cancelled a couple of credit card accounts. Right now though, I’m looking through our home improvement records so when and if it comes time to sell my house, I can have write-offs to offset the thousands in taxes I’ll owe. Also, I still am writing. Since last February I’ve been writing a poem a day - … [Read more...]
Three new published poems!
I'm very proud to let you know I have three poems in this new anthology that just came out from the Story Circle Network. Living on COVID Time: Sharing Stories, Sharing Lives in Prose and Poetry from Story Circle Network (Real Women Write) Paperback - January 3, 2021 by Story Circle Network(Author), Susan F. Schoch(Editor), Brooke Warner(Foreword) As its Amazon page says: Real Women Write: Living on COVID Time is Volume 19 of this annual anthology of prose and poetry by members of Story Circle Network, an organization supporting women writers and asserting the importance of women’s stories. But it is a volume unlike any other. The 52 authors of the 80 pieces in this collection were writing in response to an unprecedented global pandemic. The virus spread through a year filled with many other profound challenges and changes, while these women were writing about their lives, engaging with experiences and emotions that were uniquely their own. These selections capture … [Read more...]
COVID even strikes without a positive diagnosis
The following is another piece I wrote in my Zoom writing group meeting. The prompt was: "Who did I meet this year who surprised or delighted us? I decided to change the "who" to a "what" and this is what I came up with. Needless to say the recent death of my husband after his long stay in hospital and rehab care was on my mind. COVID was the huge surprise this year. After a slow and quiet beginning it came upon us like gangbusters – so much so that we didn’t know how to behave in its presence. First we were told wearing masks didn’t help. Later on masks were mandated. And though staying six feet from others was recommended it wasn’t enforced very much. How does one stay six feet apart at the grocery store or even on the street. Another rule was to wash our hands for twenty seconds many times a day. But how does one monitor that. We washed using the honor system I did stay inside especially when the numbers of victims and deaths started to rise and the science doctors – and … [Read more...]
From good to bad overnight
I’m glad to say this month is over. It’s been an awful one. Of course this summer has been hard for all of us now that the coronavirus is reattacking us, but we’ve had other health issues in our home. Yesterday I had to call the paramedics to take my husband Bob to the hospital. His second time there this month. And yesterday’s episode was such a shock. Just the day before he was feeling pretty good. He was eating again, able to walk fine with his walker and go up and down the stairs all right, using his cane. And he even had an online conversation with his doctor who said he looked so well, he didn’t have to see him again until October. When I tried to get him up yesterday and get ready for an in-person doctor’s appointment, he lay there in bed for another hour dozing. I finally had to force him out of bed, and he did manage to get out and use his walker to get to the bathroom. He even gave himself a sponge bath. But afterward it was hard to get him to get dressed. I brought … [Read more...]
