Is Life Over After Fifty?

A blog for women over fifty with a sense of humor and those who love them, by Diane Traversi.

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Am I Willing To Risk It All For an “O” Face?

Sometimes I marvel at how I have spent the majority of my life watching my weight. From a very young age I was lectured about being close to weighing too much. My childhood nickname given to me by my older siblings was ‘Chubbsly’ or ‘Fatty White Cheeks’. Neither name inspired any degree of self-confidence but instead, filled me with shame and disgust for my own body. One time after an annual…

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Am I Too Old to…?

Yes? No? Maybe? At my age or thereabouts, people start to evaluate their life and the choices they have made. But even more important – they begin to consider what choices are left in life. “They” is me. I am fully aware that I can’t change what is in the past but, what is to come in my future is up to me and God. God’s got the big stuff – but he tends to keep the final outcome pretty close to…

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Say Yes to Everything, Version 2.0

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Good Morning - Have a Great Day!

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A Very Special Senior Retreat

I spent yesterday in the company of a group of Seniors that I have come to dearly love over the past two years. They’re not seniors in the same way that I am a Senior, (as in 65+, AARP, Early-Bird Dinner, movie ticket discounts etc..). They are Seniors in High School and preparing to graduate at the end of the Spring semester. They are at one of the major crossroads in their relatively young…

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The Day My Heart Stopped Pounding.. and Settled into Beating

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I Did It My Way… Inked

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Anxiety Much?

Is it just me, or is anxiety becoming increasingly out of control?  I am acutely aware of my own anxiety, and on the days that are especially challenging – it often feels like I need to go outside and scream at the top of my lungs just to offload some of the pressure.  I see it daily in almost every one I encounter too – kids, adults, even some dogs and cats!  The most concerning part is that it…

Anxiety Much?

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Why is it That - The Hardest Thing to be - Is Yourself?

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I Wish I Could Say …

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Fearless and Free: Solo Adventures After 60

In 47 days, I will turn the very exciting age of 65.  I am exhilarated about it for a number of reasons; number one – I lived this long. (Not everyone is blessed in this way).  Number two – I am now an official Medicare recipient – this is a moment I have been waiting for, for a very long time.  Relying on health benefits provided by an employer has driven my choices and decision making since…

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The Labyrinth of Grief

A labyrinth represents a journey in life, often a spiritual or personal one, characterized by twists, turns, and a single, winding path leading to a center and back out. In death, it is a metaphor for the often complex and winding journey people experience while navigating loss and mourning.  It is a metaphor – but also a literal place to visit and experience. I first experienced a labyrinth…

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My Anti-Bucket List

Just after the turn of the century – January 1, 2002, I wrote a Bucket List on my flight home from New York City. I had spent New Year’s Eve in Times Square with thousands of other exuberantly celebrating people, waiting for the huge crystal ball to drop at the stroke of midnight. It was one of those iconic things you dream of doing – at least once in your life. A bucket-list item to check…

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Lessons I learned in High School, (At Age 64)

Who would have thought that I would finally learn to love myself in high school? Not when I was a teenager, when peer pressure, cliques, gossip and a bad reputation can ruin a young girl, but at the age of 64. I can’t believe it – but it’s true – I went back to the high school I graduated from 47 years ago, to work in the front office this past year. And after years of chasing my elusive…

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The Softer Side of Dull

I recently became aware of a Facebook group called “Dull Women’s Club”, and it has close to 350,000 members!  I read a couple of the posts from different members and was (mildly) amused enough to join the group.  The content consists of people posting a photo of themselves and then describing the rather mundane lives that they are completely content with.  Members describe their favorite…

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Our Friday Night “Safety Meetings”

A few years ago, a group of us women, in – or approaching our sixties, formed to meet on Friday nights during Happy Hour. How it came about: One of the husbands of the women apparently attended a “safety meeting” on a weekly basis with a group of his men friends. This group held a certain degree of mystery – we wondered… did they really discuss safety topics? Were there guest speakers? Were…

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It’s Been 7 Hours and Thirty Days…

I keep counting the days. I think that — in my mind, maybe as the number grows – it will hurt less. But it doesn’t. Hurt less. It hurts different – every day the grief morphs into a new version of sadness, anger and barely-able-to-contain irritability. The Five Stages of Grief that you read about is a neat and tidy timeline. One where you progress from one stage to the next until you are…