In my twenties, if you'd have told me by my sixties, I'd be single with no kids and twice divorced… I'd have said "Nah, you crazy!  I'll be married, (happily, thank you very much), have 2.3 children and a critter or four!"  And hey, I do have this really cute dog, but things don't always go as we planned.   Now, I'm usually good with changes.  Life's been a wild and adventurous ride with few regrets and I'm damn good at winging it, but I was getting pretty burnt out, --and the hamster wheel kept spinning.

By my fifties, I felt like I was slowly disintegrating.  With the stress of thirty years in the datacom industry and a failing second marriage, I felt lost and my health was a mess.  I'd survived breast cancer, a full hysterectomy and I was unhappy and unfulfilled.  My first colonoscopy found several pre-cancerous polyps and another subsequent breast biopsy luckily came back negative, but I knew these were signs that it was all too much.  So, I blew it up.  I got a divorce, moved to a beautiful place in the Pacific Northwest and quit my job to go to furniture school in Scotland for a year!

Since then, I've learned much about vulnerability (something I'd never allowed myself to be), that I had horrible boundaries and several limiting beliefs I needed to work through.  And the men, well the ones I wanted to attract, those amazing men actually liked their women a little softer and gentler than I'd taught myself to be --not always competition or one of the boys.  "Yikes" 

I started listening to my heart, started meditating and really understanding what makes that woman in the mirror tick.  I also started actively cultivating a community of female friends where we listen and hold space for each other and they gently hold me accountable for my words and actions.  I'm attracting quality relationships where I'm not only generous with my heart but I finally receive the love men want to provide me as well.  More "Yes, thank you", less "No, it's OK, I got it".

Now retired and in those sixties, I see it's not just me. We women aged to perfection are everywhere and we're waking up to the effects of a weird transitional period in our history.  One of liberation, possibility, freedom and overwork. These changes have left us excited, yearning for more, exhausted and sometimes a little confused on the "now what" as we transition to yet another phase in our own lives and histories.  That's why I'm here.  So you know you're not alone and can listen and learn or lay down some of that amazing truth and wisdom you've amassed while building your own rich and storied life to assist your fellow sisters with their own big exhales.  "Welcome sistah", it's beautiful to meet you.