Divorce: Coping with Extreme Stress
Divorce, even when you know it is the right thing to do, is one of the most stressful life events people face.
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Articles onDivorce & Widowhood
When Divorce Turns Ugly
Except in very rare cases, the process of separation and divorce can be stressful at best and anguished, even dangerous, at worst.
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More Older Women Are Choosing Divorce
Twice as many people over the age of 50 are now likely to divorce as were apt to do so in 1990, and “silver” or “gray” divorce, as this phenomenon is sometimes referred to, is more acceptable.
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Widowhood:
On Becoming An Elder Stateswoman of Grief
Writing helped me to understand what I was feeling. At first it was a lament: I gave free voice to the turmoil, grief, anger, and fear. Writing this way, without restraint, helped me experience the depth of my loss. And from that deep despair I was able to accept and begin the slow transition to my new life as a widow, and to explore what that was like for me.
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Sex, Lies and Paperwork: ‘Girlfriends Guide to Divorce,’ Season 2 Premieres Tonight
By Alexandra MacAaron
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I thought a better title for the show would be 'Rich White Women Whining.' . . . But, I confess it grew on me after a couple of episodes for two important reasons: very smart writing and very strong acting.
Loving My Mother Too Late
By Jennifer Cheyne
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Somehow, working two jobs, my mother—widowed at 23—raised her three girls. We had a TV set and a house in a safe neighborhood and got educations and survived long enough to hate her for all that she wasn’t.
Take a Chance on Silver Romance
Divorced at 52 after nearly 30 years of marriage, I found the transition to dating . . . awkward, at the very least. For one thing, I couldn't begin to compete with younger women's tight buttocks, flat stomachs, and firm breasts . . .
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An Episcopal Priest Confronts Loss
I was told that one of our parishioners, Kristen, was outside in her car with her 6-year-old son. Her husband had died a few hours before, during a minor outpatient procedure. At the age of 51 he had gone into cardiac arrest, and they had not been able to revive him. Kristen wanted to bring her son by the church to talk to me because she was so afraid of saying the wrong thing about his father’s death and about heaven.
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Selling a Wedding Ring
“What should we do about Enid’s ring?" I asked my sister from time to time. One thing was certain: Neither of us was going to wear it. That would be just too weird. The last thing my sister or I wanted was to feel close to Enid, a woman we'd struggled to tolerate when she was alive.
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I Recycled My Husband
Rick wasn’t the right husband for me. Not his fault; there is no right husband for me. Although the saying goes that there’s a lid for every pot, I’m one of those women who should stay single. Neither lid nor pot, I’m more of a single-function stand-alone appliance, like an espresso maker.
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Single, Child-free, and Getting Older: Should I Be Worried?
As a single woman with no kids (a spinster), I am due for a pretty bleak existence as I get older, researchers tell me. I keep seeing these reports, but I never feel as if they're talking about me. Who are these people they're talking about?
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Social Security and the Gender Divide: The Alarming Truth
“The genius of the [Social Security] system is that it has lasted so well and so long,” Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton noted recently. But the system was designed for yesterday’s workforce . . . and women are the losers.
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Manners Matter
This is the second Q&A column by B. Elliott, a frequent WVFC commentator, on “doing the right thing” in our quickly evolving culture Feel free to contact Ms. Elliott at WFVC for solutions to your troublesome social problems.
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Twelve Years After: How Widowhood Actually Feels
I remember everything, or at least the things that matter. I remember every pore of his skin, the encysted bump he had on the back of his head, the way he looked like a droll rabbi when he steepled his fingers. I remember the smell of his skin. I remember the lopsided grin he’d get, so wolfish and calculating and…
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Boomer Divorce, Bankruptcy Rates Spike; Gym Rats May Need New Hips Sooner; In Thailand, Older Women Lead Protest Movement
Women Our Age Takes to the Streets….This week, many Americans first became aware of anti-government protests in Thailand. TV clips showed police using tear gas against the protesters who’d occupied government buildings since June, demanding the resignation of the prime minister. But no TV station has yet showed the faces of who’s behind this mass movement: middle-aged women, seasoned by…
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