Marcy Adelman: 2009 Purpose Prize Winner
BRINGING EXPERIENCE TO SOCIAL INNOVATION CHANGES EVERYTHING
In a culture that often seems to thrive more on “creating” villains than honoring heroes, it is especially rewarding to report on people who are changing the world. THE PURPOSE PRIZE – announced by Encore Careers and Civic Ventures – celebrates and honors people over 60 who are bringing experience to social innovation (read the press release).
I was proud to have been a judge for this Award, and I can tell you the candidates and winners are a …

Good Natured Hysteria – Shaken and Stirred with Hilarity and Honesty!
Some of the best laughs I have experienced in the last decade have been with my girlfriends about the absurd things that are happening to our bodies and our minds. We are laughing at the absurdity of it all, and we are laughing with each other. That is how we surmount the inevitable. But there is a genre of post-menopause support books that does just the opposite – the jokes are about self-contempt and the laughter is about humiliation. …

 
A STORY FROM THE ‘FERTILE VOID’

 
The hallmark of the beginning of Second Adulthood is a necessary but disturbing descent into what I call the Fertile Void. Like the onset of menopause, this profound upheaval has nothing to do with chronological age. It may coincide with the loss of biological fertility and it may take as long or longer than a pregnancy, the similarities end there. The Fertile Void is a place of confusion in which a midlife woman wanders without a map until she finds her new self.
The good …

DO YOU FEEL IT? DO YOU FEAR OR WELCOME CHANGE?

Second Adulthood is all about change. It’s about a restlessness that creates a non-specific “itch” to make changes. Life in the Fertile Void, as I call this period, may feel like a free fall; it is alternately exhilarating and terrifying.
The changes you choose to make may not be as dramatic as parachuting out of a plane or as operatic as running off with the cable guy, but they will probably feel as momentous. Though some women are overcome with …

LOVE, SEX, INTIMACY…
A New Novel from Jane Adams
A year or so ago, I read the manuscript of a novel about a woman like us – turning 60, facing career challenges, dealing with uncooperative children, redefining love- AND sex – and getting to know her authentic self. Charlotte “Sugar” Kane is a great character and very, very funny in that wry way we enjoy in our friends.
The only problem was that the author, my friend Jane Adams, couldn’t find a publisher interested in fiction about midlife women, so she finally …

DEFINING A NEW WAY OF LOVING IN SECOND ADULTHOOD
Do you have a partner or a project or a person who moves you deeply? Someone you trust totally? Have you heard yourself use the word “love” in circumstances you hadn’t before? Do you connect love with sex? If you feel you are missing love in your life, what is it you miss?
The reason I ask is that everywhere I go, I hear from women who are experiencing love, intense love, in new ways. In some cases, they do not label …

DOING WHAT DAD WANTS TAKES A NEW TWIST!
Both our children are far away this year, so Father’s Day won’t be about the whole family “Doing What Dad Wants.” But it most definitely won’t be a joyless day. Instead, for my husband Bob and me it will be a celebration of “Dad’s Amazing New Project” – the BlueStone Gallery in Milford, PA (www.bluestonegallerymilford.com) which both our kids love.
We will be spending the afternoon where “Dad is Doing What He Wants.” In the past year, my husband has envisioned, brought to …

STORIES FROM THE FRONTLINES OF SECOND ADULTHOOD – “DEB’S” STORY

We are launching a new feature – Stories from the Frontlines of Second Adulthood. The stories are from FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY and my other books, women I have met through lectures, interviews, friends, and now through this website.
Throughout our lives, we have taken on so many roles. So many imposed expectations. So many responsibilities we weren’t sure we could – or wanted to – handle. So many doubts about performance. Now the scripted lines are giving way to the …

We’re Celebrating…Join Us!

With the launch of this website we are celebrating the new home for Women in Second Adulthood along with the publication of my new book: FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY: 10 LIFE LESSONS FOR WOMEN IN SECOND ADULTHOOD. In my books, I have collected anecdotes, insights, and wisdom from women at a new frontier of self-discovery; their stories, along with front-line scientific research and understanding from those professionals who are monitoring our journey, offer practical guidelines for all of us. On this website we can do the …

We Can Only Learn from Each Other
When the first copy of my new book FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY arrived from my publisher, my emotions were mixed. On the one hand the book embodies the long-awaited launch of my ideas into the public conversation. On the other hand, it makes me vulnerable to the public’s response. Curiously, though, I feel somewhat less vulnerable this time out than when INVENTING THE REST OF OUR LIVES was published several years ago.
This is due in part to the fact that I was …