Many years ago, a friend who was writing a book on “late bloomers” approached me to be interviewed and included. I granted her the interview although I knew I was not a late bloomer; I had been blooming all my life and was continuing to bloom well into my later decades. I decided I was a “perennial.”
That was the impetus for my research and for this page on my site. I knew I was not the only woman who continued to bloom in later years with no end in sight. I will concentrate on interviews, conversations, emails, texts, quotes, and more from women who redefine the conventional archetype of middle/later adulthood in a series of articles, linked to at the bottom of this page. They will demonstrate that what was once considered the “washed up” years actually can be a rebirth of opportunity, creativity, and the ideal time for self-actualization.
These articles will contain the process of research beginning on my sabbatical from Hawai`i Community College-Pālamanui in Kailua-Kona, HI during the fall semester of 2018. I returned to my teaching position as an Associate Professor in the spring of 2019.
During my sabbatical, I made an extended road trip on the mainland USA to interview other women who continue to be involved with a career, or who do a lot of traveling, or who are writing, or who are athletes, or who are engaged in actively living life somehow. I was not able to reach everyone I would have liked to, of course, but it seems almost everyone knows at least one woman “of a certain age” who fits that profile as well.
The articles below are in reverse chronological order. Please give them a read and consider contributing your story to my research. I would love for you and/or your friends to respond. The more responses I get, the better results my research will provide, so please use the Writing Prompts suggested below to help you in organizing your thoughts. NOTE: These questions are NOT to be answered in their entirety, but to help trigger some memories or thoughts about your life.
A hui hou and Mahalo!
–Lucy
ARTICLES