Some women have questions. Married women. Divorced women. Widowed women. Single women. Whether by choice or circumstance, women are wondering. Young women of college age are asking questions, but it is generally the older women, those who know where they were when Kennedy was killed. Those who feel the Big clock ticking. The Baby Boomers.
You know these women. You see them all the time, every day, everywhere you go. They’re your mom, your aunt, your sister, your wife, your daughter. The bank teller, the cashier at the supermarket. The doctor, the dentist, the vet. The waitress, the chef. The policewoman, the EMT. The teacher, the colleague. The accountant, the lawyer. The secretary, the senator. Some are even stay-at-homers who seem to visit the GAP on a bi-weekly basis.
Generally women of this age had parents who survived the Great Depression and were raised with a strong work ethic and a held over enforced frugality that caused them to rebel into the Me Generation. Baby Boomers caused credit card debt. Having grown up in a post WWII world, their parents wanted to give their children things they had had to go without or ration. And so, it began with coon-skin caps, Howdy-Doody, Rock ‘em Sock ‘ems, Barbie’s Dream House, and braces for the kids’ teeth.
When the Boomers had kids of their own, they wanted even more for their offspring and the debt grew and grew. As the women grew, so did their various needs. The need to feel young and beautiful and so came the memberships to country clubs, gyms, tanning salons, designer outfits, manicures/pedicures, waxings, bi-monthly cosmetic surgery procedures, that extravagant fun summer rental, and that gas-guzzling road hog.
You may say these are women suffering a mid-life crisis, empty- or semi-empty nest syndrome. These are women who still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. It seems all the ballerina positions have been filled and perimenopause and being a flight attendant don’t necessarily make a great match. One hot flash too many and that jerk in business class requesting another drink and a sleep mask may be in for a rude awakening.
What do these women want to know? What are the burning questions on their lips, on their minds, and in their hearts? After some sleepless nights, these women can pretty much solve the difficult, painful questions of putting an elderly, failing parent into an assisted living facility; struggle to make a marriage work or surrender to reality and opt for divorce; let the kids move back in after graduation or use tough love and encourage them to find a place of their own; get a second job to sock some money away for retirement, or dip into the retirement fund and travel around the world; sell the house and downsize to a Florida condo; go back to school to fulfill a dream and perhaps change careers. Will I find my soul mate, my true love life-partner, or is this it; will I find true happiness? No. Those are not the questions.
They have questions. And they need and want answers. Answers they cannot find in all those self-help books, seminars and weekend retreats offering enlightenment of one sort of another. Answers they cannot find after hours of deep, meaningful discussions with their best friends, male/female, gay/straight. Answers their religious or spiritual leaders cannot give them through no fault of their own but that they are only human.
If the usual avenues lead nowhere, one resorts to seeking advice/guidance from the Great Beyond – through psychic medium readings, Tarot cards, tea leaves, palmists, phrenologist (head lump reader), auras, pendulums, past life regressions, and conversations with a channeled spirit guide. And for what? To find out once and for all, Does my soul look fat in this?
You know these women. You see them all the time, every day, everywhere you go. They’re your mom, your aunt, your sister, your wife, your daughter. The bank teller, the cashier at the supermarket. The doctor, the dentist, the vet. The waitress, the chef. The policewoman, the EMT. The teacher, the colleague. The accountant, the lawyer. The secretary, the senator. Some are even stay-at-homers who seem to visit the GAP on a bi-weekly basis.
Generally women of this age had parents who survived the Great Depression and were raised with a strong work ethic and a held over enforced frugality that caused them to rebel into the Me Generation. Baby Boomers caused credit card debt. Having grown up in a post WWII world, their parents wanted to give their children things they had had to go without or ration. And so, it began with coon-skin caps, Howdy-Doody, Rock ‘em Sock ‘ems, Barbie’s Dream House, and braces for the kids’ teeth.
When the Boomers had kids of their own, they wanted even more for their offspring and the debt grew and grew. As the women grew, so did their various needs. The need to feel young and beautiful and so came the memberships to country clubs, gyms, tanning salons, designer outfits, manicures/pedicures, waxings, bi-monthly cosmetic surgery procedures, that extravagant fun summer rental, and that gas-guzzling road hog.
You may say these are women suffering a mid-life crisis, empty- or semi-empty nest syndrome. These are women who still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. It seems all the ballerina positions have been filled and perimenopause and being a flight attendant don’t necessarily make a great match. One hot flash too many and that jerk in business class requesting another drink and a sleep mask may be in for a rude awakening.
What do these women want to know? What are the burning questions on their lips, on their minds, and in their hearts? After some sleepless nights, these women can pretty much solve the difficult, painful questions of putting an elderly, failing parent into an assisted living facility; struggle to make a marriage work or surrender to reality and opt for divorce; let the kids move back in after graduation or use tough love and encourage them to find a place of their own; get a second job to sock some money away for retirement, or dip into the retirement fund and travel around the world; sell the house and downsize to a Florida condo; go back to school to fulfill a dream and perhaps change careers. Will I find my soul mate, my true love life-partner, or is this it; will I find true happiness? No. Those are not the questions.
They have questions. And they need and want answers. Answers they cannot find in all those self-help books, seminars and weekend retreats offering enlightenment of one sort of another. Answers they cannot find after hours of deep, meaningful discussions with their best friends, male/female, gay/straight. Answers their religious or spiritual leaders cannot give them through no fault of their own but that they are only human.
If the usual avenues lead nowhere, one resorts to seeking advice/guidance from the Great Beyond – through psychic medium readings, Tarot cards, tea leaves, palmists, phrenologist (head lump reader), auras, pendulums, past life regressions, and conversations with a channeled spirit guide. And for what? To find out once and for all, Does my soul look fat in this?
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