“He’s on the lamb?” said my army-veteran cousin – half laughing, half shocked – after I shared a surprising tale about a distant cousin. We were having dinner earlier this week at a quaint eatery in the North End of Boston. My cousin’s sister was in town for a conference. The law enforcement reference was in response to a story I told about our parents’ cousin who had relocated to Australia in his early twenties. Everyone at the table had heard countless reverential stories about “David,” who would by now be in his early eighties. David had a wonderful joie de vivre. Continue reading…
Transition Triumphs?
“I’ve been reading your blog and thinking ‘ugh’ all this transition stuff,” said Victoria Taylor, CEO and founder of Victoria Gourmet, lamenting that transition would be ahead of her again sometime. Victoria’s remarks made me wonder, ‘Can we ever triumph over transition?’ Continue reading…
Analogy: a powerful transition tool
Last weekend I attended a training session for volunteers for a local youth group. A wide cross-section of folks attended. One gentleman, a youth minister from a local church named Sal, spoke at length. Sal shared — as only you can share on folding chairs in the basement of a school on a Sunday morning — a story that I found surprisingly powerful. Continue reading…
Miracle waiting to happen?
This summer I remember sitting outside my neighbor’s house having coffee and waffles one morning and being totally struck by one of their visitors. She was a woman who was probably in her early- to mid-sixties visiting with her husband of roughly the same age. We’d been invited to join our neighbors and their guests for breakfast outside their cottage under a beautiful shade tree – in a pretty garden a few hundred feet from the sea. What could be nicer with a coffee in hand (ok, decaf) and someone else worrying about my children’s breakfast? Continue reading…
Transitions & Negative People…..
“She is living her dream,” said my daughter in summary of a friend we visited over Columbus Day Weekend 2010. If I had tried I couldn’t have figured out how to get that message across so simply and completely to my children. Continue reading…
Must we all be entrepreneurs?
This week I was thinking about how to define “transition.” It brought to mind one of my favorite movie scenes of all time, a scene from the Dead Poets Society. In it Robin Williams plays a high school English teacher, Professor Keating. At one point he has each child walk to the front of the classroom and stand on top of his desk – looking out at the class. It is a powerful moment that allows the kids to see that one can get great energy by taking the time to use another lens to look at something familiar. Continue reading…
What’s your Agenda?
” I wasted a lot of time,” confided a long-time friend as she described the years that she had not worked outside the home. She and I were having a conversation about her decision to return to work. At the time she had three high school aged children. The dialogue stayed with me.
A recent conversation got me thinking about this ‘wasted time’ exchange. A friend was out and about with a visible kick to her step. Continue reading…
The Baseline: An elusive tool
Last Sunday my family and I participated in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. For those who aren’t Bostonians, the Jimmy Fund is the fund-raising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute dedicated to supporting research on childhood cancers. My daughter and I were walking a pace or two behind our team. We happened to be interspersed with a group called Jessica’s Twinkling Stars. There were maybe 30 of them including 8 or 10 little girls about my daughter’s age. Each of the girls had a light purple crocheted hat; some hats were adorned with white flowers. My eight year old daughter was captivated by the hats. Continue reading…
Gender Roles: A Child’s Perspective
“Does someone pay you?” quipped my daughter this morning as I tried to explain my current self-employed status. She and my son have been on the “does Mom work?” line of questioning over the past week. It is clear to me that they are struggling in their minds to understand my role, or said better, my changed role. Continue reading…
Summer Book Review Finale: Learnings?
An incident struck me yesterday morning. I was walking with two neighbors at the crack of dawn — as I do regularly. We were discussing an issue that hit a chord with one of my compatriots. She physically changed as the conversation ensued. Her body tensed and she began to shake ever so slightly. Needless to say she was very keyed up. She was struggling with anyone – it didn’t matter whom – who couldn’t see this topic the way she did. From my view she seemed absolutely CLOSED to anything anyone else had to say.
It was a powerful juxtaposition to my summer – a summer that opened me up to scores of new thinking about women’s transition issues. Continue reading…