I've never personally met Barbara, but I'm an avid reader of her newsletters and a great admirer of her spirit.

At 81, Barbara is an energizer bunny that just keeps on going. Let's face it, how many women do we know that at the age of 81 work because they want to?  

And no - she doesn't just answer the phone at the doctor's office, but she disburses medicine as a pharmacist. How many women do we know that run a website, write books and publically speak at 81? Not too many?.

A few nights ago when I received one of her newsletters I had an urge to write to her and tell her the following, so I emailed her:

Hi Barbara,

I just wanted you to know that each and every time I get your newsletters, I can't help but smile and think:  

If I knew you personally, I would pick up the phone and tell you: "My hat is off to you."

Way to go - I wish all of us would have the same energy, skills and tenacity as you do.

Sending you hugs and blessings,

Yana

But, it was her response the next day that made me happy, and confirmed what I already knew:

Hi Yana,

How nice to hear from you!

Thanks for your nice comment.

Energy is something you get as a prize for taking care of yourself early on (assuming nasty genes don't take over your health). Skills are easy if you maintain cognitive integrity, and tenacity—that's easy if you are able to take control of your mind and decide you are going to do what you want to do, no matter what others do (or do not do), or what tradition says is "proper".

It's interesting to get to my age and realize that "the norm" (retirement) is not only a crock but a vehicle to promote decline. Trying to sell that truth to younger women is a hard sell because you are bucking human nature that wants to kick back and do nothing, and the culture that says kicking back and doing nothing is the right thing to do.

Wow! Did I just write another article? You have to be careful when you write to me because I'll probably tell you far more than you wanted to know!  

Yana, thanks again for checking in. I truly appreciate it.

Barbara Morris, R.Ph.
http://www.NoMoreLittleOldLadies.com
http://www.PutOldonHold.com

Barbara has a message for all of us. Let's take care of ourselves, and let's not wait another day to do it.

Barbara, you are my hero.

Susan Haley proudly wears her heart on her sleeve, for all to display in her recent publication, Amber Returns to Maine! And Other Songs of the Soul. Returns to Maine - and Other - Songs of the Soul

Susan is poetic, politic, sincere and doesn't pull any punches.  Life is a celebration to her, and she encourages you to embrace yours with the same determination for happiness and joy, no matter the hardships.

While it's a very short book (she cuts to the chase, no dilly-dallying!), it's bursting with emotion that's contagious.  You're taken into her life to experience everything with her, the good the bad and the ugly.  

You experience what the loss of her husband was like, and the impact of his absence into the present?a beautiful and heart-wrenching discussion of widowed-life that can't help but make you grateful for the man in your own life, flaws and all.  She keeps life in check; it's to be appreciated and humbling, but not to the point where you're blown over with all your feelings and you get stuck in the emotional muck.  Truly a woman after my own heart.

I plan on passing this book along to all my daughters; it's a remarkable story of a remarkable woman's life and her journey with triumphs and tragedy?promoting more than a can-do attitude, but a can-learn and appreciative attitude that separates the important from the trivial.  This is not only a skill for everyday life, but can make the difference between collapsing under life's pressures, and keeping your head above water when things get rough.  

She uses both poetry and prose to illustrate her thoughts and feelings.  The raw quality of her writing is more than endearing, it's relatable and satisfying.  If you need a fulfilling summer read, look no further, and then pass it on to the closest woman to you.  It's time we appreciate all that we have, all that we've survived and all that we're still capable of doing.  Let's do it together!

Click here to buy this book.

Another year, another strand of gray hair, and as shocking as it may seem, your child will be moving away to start her first year of college. You sit and reminisce on how, what only seems to be yesterday, you taught your baby to hold a spoon, tie her shoes, make her own sandwiches, do her laundry and eventually how to drive a car.

It was always clear to you that your goal as a mother was to make her an independent, self assured young lady ready to enter the world on her own. Although you understand this is her next stage in growing up, you find yourself sitting with a long face and conflicting feelings. As you try to rationalize with yourself that for the first time your house will be quiet and clean, you notice a tear sliding down your cheek. You are convinced that the ending of this chapter will leave you sad and worried. Never the less you quickly brush away those feelings; you embrace the fact that your baby will be only a phone call away. At that very moment, you realize that your day will begin by checking your emails and waiting for a text message, it will be clouded with ideas for her next visit, and hopefully will end with a good night phone call. You understand that this learning experience is necessary for both of you and all of a sudden you are very proud of your accomplishment. You feel empowered knowing that you did an awesome job and your teenager is ready for the journey called life.

After watching a documentary about the life of Jack Kevorkian all I could think of is writing this blog.

Many of us remember him as Doctor of Death, the man who assisted in over 100 suicides for people who were in pain. He gave them the ability to pass in peace and end their suffering.

To say that this is a controversial subject is to put it mildly; even now so many years later most of us remember hearing about Kevorkian and debating if he had the right to take someone else's life, even with their consent and their plea.

I was surprised to learn that he was a man of many talents. While hearing the stories on the news about his assisted suicides through the years, I never knew that Dr. Kevorkian was an inventor, a musician, a writer, a great artist and even movie producer.

A glimpse into the life of this unusual man depicts his passion for trying to be the advocate who reminds us about the freedom to make our own decisions and exercise the 9th amendment. When asked why he is fighting so hard and willing to lose so much, he simply says something along those lines: "I'm doing it for me. No one knows what kind of death awaits us, and if no one can help me, I want to die with dignity and less suffering."

Fanatical in his beliefs, and not scared of anything following his release after eight years in prison and at the age of 80, Dr. Kevorkian runs for Congress.  No one, even himself thought that he had a chance, but those who knew him knew why he took on this challenge. He believes that many should lose for someone to finally win.

Many perceive him as cantankerous old man, but after watching this documentary you cannot help but think, how many men or women do you know that "talk the talk and walks the walk?" This man is willing to die for what he believes is our right to die when one is suffering beyond belief and no medicine can help alleviate the pain.

After watching my grandpa suffer for six months while dying of pancreatic cancer with doctors who basically told us a month into his suffering that it's now up to God, I wish that Dr. Kevorkian was his angel of death.

As I watched him on the television screen, all I could think of that we need more people of principal and dignity to fight for what we believe.

Would love to hear what you think of this subject and if you ever watched someone dear to you suffer without anyone being able to help.

When I received an email from my girlfriend last night, all I kept thinking that finally someone said what I was sure of years ago  

Here is what she said:

"I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection—the relationship between stress and disease.  The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her  girlfriends.  At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin—a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being.  Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going.  Jobs? Yes.   Sports? Yes.  Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf?  Yes.  But their feelings? - rarely.  

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters, and evidently that is very good for our health.  He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true.  In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!  

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health!  We are indeed very very lucky.

Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."  

Here is to the power of girlfriends and to good health!

There is a study for everything, but finally someone said something that I've known for years.

Here is to all the women in my life.

You Decide.

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