Category Archives: Observations on Transition

Analogy: a powerful transition tool

Posted on October 27, 2011 | 5 comments

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 →

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Miracle waiting to happen?

Posted on October 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

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 →

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Transitions & Negative People…..

Posted on October 13, 2011 | 2 comments

“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 →

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Must we all be entrepreneurs?

Posted on October 6, 2011 | 7 comments

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 →

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What’s your Agenda?

Posted on September 29, 2011 | 5 comments

” 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 →

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The Baseline: An elusive tool

Posted on September 22, 2011 | 2 comments

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 →

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Gender Roles: A Child’s Perspective

Posted on September 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

“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 →

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Summer Book Review Finale: Learnings?

Posted on September 8, 2011 | 2 comments

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 →

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Camouflage, transition & summer plans

Posted on June 2, 2011 | 4 comments

I hope you all enjoyed a breezy Memorial Day weekend.  We caught our neighboring town’s Memorial Day celebration.   The gentleman who spoke was from the Navy;  pressed whites, well spoken, a selectman.  On Memorial Day he challenged us not to mourn but to live.  He recounted that our fallen heroes had sacrificed it all to give us that chance.   Live.

So, in a quick quiet moment on Memorial Day I Continue reading →

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Queen for the Day: a triggering event?

Posted on May 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last weekend a dear friend shared with me a quirky reference to “Queen for the Day.” It got me thinking about my transition.  For those unfamiliar with the reference, “Queen for the Day”  was a game show in the late 50s and early 60s. Contestants, all women, would compete for the “highest applause meter” rating by sharing the details of financial and emotional hard times.  The winner would get a “wish list” item like a swanky new Maytag washer.    No Oprah with a ready arm to comfort the participant – just a beautiful new Maytag circa 1950’s.  At first, I found this Queenie reference sad but… Continue reading →

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