By Ellen Sue Spicer-Jacobson.

“The first 50 years are only a warm-up.” I read that heartening declaration in a magazine article years ago—and was skeptical. But at 75, I have some perspective on that. I know it’s true.

“Flamin’ Amy” Coleman has red hair and a voice “bigger than God.” Here, to inaugurate WVFC’s series “Days of Their Lives”—profiles of accomplished women with unusual jobs—is a peek into the everyday world of a chanteuse.

“Ohmigod, I just finished having dinner with the archbishop of La Cattedrale di San Marco Argentano, in his quarters. Eleven nuns cooking, cleaning, serving his every need. I just can’t help thinking, “What’s a nice Jewish girl like me doing in a place like this?”

There are not enough stories about how women in the middle of our lives really speak and who we really are. The truth is that we are funny, dynamic, deep, sometimes raunchy, sometimes angry, sometimes sad, and sometimes scared. We are real women in the prime of our lives, with so much to say . . .

The crowd Jonathan Coulton draws is as odd and compelling as his songs: Most would look right at home in a Diane Arbus photo. They know all the words. They sing along. They dress like zombies. A Coulton show is where you fit in if you don’t fit in. I felt right at home.

It’s hard to find friends over age 30, because adults no longer enjoy the three conditions vital to forming close bonds. That’s why a national nonprofit, the Transition Network, was founded, 11 years ago—to help women “50 and forward” find friends and volunteer opportunities, build professional networks, and savor their lives “from here on.”

Back in the bad old days, as Perry Barber’s post on Title IX notes, girls and women were assumed to be too frail for (or uninterested in) strenuous sports. Long-distance running? “Very questionable . . . an arduous sport would give you big legs, a mustache, hair on your chest, and your uterus would fall out,” Kathrine Switzer, who dared to enter the all-male Boston Marathon in 1969, declares scornfully.

By Jennifer Cheyne

My first semester in college, at 49, was just one long whirl of delight. But this semester, two things happened: I turned 50, and I started to feel fear.

By Roz Warren

I’m too frugal to ever pay full price to fly first class. But would I pay a little extra for an upgrade like this again? Just ask me.

By Letty Cottin Pogrebin

At the feminist seder, we don’t praise good girls, we praise rebellious women, wise women, quiet heroines, and brash leaders.

By Rev. Elizabeth Zarelli Turner

Palm Sunday (April 1 this year) marked the transition from the purple of Lent to the red of Holy Week. And so begins the weeklong journey to the black of Good Friday.

By Chris Lombardi

“You guys were so cool when you were young,” a teenager tells Kira, one of the novel’s narrators. That thought both haunts and sustains Kira and her husband, anchoring the story and their lives.

By Karen O’Connor

She’s been pursuing her keep-on-moving-to-another-city dream ever since her sailing days. Wherever she settles (briefly), she expects to make friends fast. Here’s how she does it.

By Laura Baudo Sillerman

When you mention Valentine’s Day, put me on the side of the line that says, “I’d rather it didn’t exist.” Still, there was a time when I anticipated this day with the feeling it seems intended to evoke.

Why not do something heartwarming for the upcoming non-holiday? It just might swell your heart—and those of a whole lot of others as well.