Women Going For It!

Women Going For It!

Adult nonfiction
As you know if you've been reading this blog long enough, this
past fall I started graduate school just weeks short of my 67th
birthday. I'd taken the time to raise my children. When they were
grown and flown, I learned an inconvenient truth: people with good
jobs don't want to hire someone with a paid employment gap large
enough to drive a hummer through. It looked like I'd have to settle
for big store retail or fast food...
...only I wasn't going to give up on myself any more than I
would have given up on my kids. I searched for a meaningful next step
until I discovered the higher education student development program
that would prepare me for a career doing what makes my heart sing.
Now I'm living the dream: going part time and earning tuition, fees,
and textbooks with a student job in dining services.
I was thrilled beyond measure when I discovered that other women
over fifty are living their dreams. In Women Going For It! Diana
Coleman shares the stories of some pretty incredible women who took
the risks to achieve their goals in a society that expects women to go
quietly into that last good night. You'll meet:
*Claudia who entered seminary at 53 and became an ordained Episcopal
priest at 56;
*Carol who joined a Roller Derby team in her 60's;
*Elizabeth who was 52 when she adopted two foster children;
*Teresa Ann who became a woman at 53;
and 22 other unforgettable women.
But you don't have to settle for reading their amazing stories.
Coleman believes that women of any age have within us the power to
dream big and achieve our dreams. She includes exercises to help us
do just that.
Buy the book for yourself. Buy it for your mom. Buy it for any
older woman you know who's obeying society's mandate to sell herself
short. If enough of us decide it's our right to really live (as
opposed to just existing) before we die, ageism may cease being one of
our society's last accepted prejudices.
On a personal note, I will celebrate New Years Eve my favorite way:
reading near our beautiful tree with a good book, candy, and my
precious Joey cat purring on my lap. Eugene will join us for the ball
drop. I can't begin to imagine what I'll discover and achieve in the
year ahead. I hope you celebrate safely and responsibly and have a
lot to look forward to.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my dear readers.
jules hathaway


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