At the Bend

Midlife Glimpses: 
Stories from Real Women in Midlife
 

Nancy, an amateur photographer, was a publicist/historian for her children's school events. After her children graduated, the local newspaper offered her a job as a photojournalist.   Marie always enjoyed cooking for her large family and friends. When her children left home, she became involved with a church food bank. She now regularly organizes and cooks meals for the homeless in her town.   Free of her children's busy schedules, Jennifer became head of the women's ministries program in her large church. She organizes weekly Bible studies, discipleship groups, monthly luncheons, and annual retreats. She coordinates special speakers for the events and, to her surprise, has enjoyed being a speaker herself.   Diane was a full-time mom who usually ended up organizing events and being in positions of leadership for a variety of her children's activities. When her children left home, she returned to school to pursue a business degree and now holds a corporate position.   Kris had worked as a registered nurse before having children. She continued to help elderly people in the church on a volunteer basis. When her children left home, she began working as a home care nurse. Soon her husband's parents required similar care, yet they were not comfortable with strangers. Kris offered her services to care for her in-laws and they gratefully accepted.   Tania was passionate about theater and dance in college. Yet nightly rehearsals and weekend performances did not mix with raising a family of four children. She put her love of performing on hold but continued to help with her children's school and church productions. After her children left for college, Tania became involved with her local community theater and began auditioning for different productions in neighboring cities.   Susan had always enjoyed quilting. After her children left home, she became a volunteer at a local hospital. She noticed a need and knew she could help. She began making quilts, intended to wrap stillborn babies in for burial, as gifts for grieving families.   Donna had majored in Christian education at Biola College before marrying and staying home to raise her three sons. She homeschooled her children and remained active in organizing discipleship programs in the churches she attended. She worked as a receptionist at her eldest son's high school to be near him during his senior year. As her children prepared to leave home, her passion for writing sustained her. She joined a writers' critique group, wrote a book and a Bible study series, and penned a play for her son's high school drama department. With the encouragement of her writers' group, Donna adapted her play into a screenplay, which placed as a quarterfinalist in two major competitions. She is currently working on her second book and pursuing opportunities for her screenplay to be made into a film. Donna and her husband remain active in lay ministry, mentoring other believers.   When fifty-nine-year-old Edie Munger set out to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, she was told by a professor that she was too old to achieve her goal. Four years later she was the first woman to graduate from Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology and was later named director of the Creative Counseling Center at Hollywood Presbyterian Church. She had left her career as a clinical social worker to further her education, and many people felt that her goals were too lofty for a pastor's wife.   Nanci, a doctor's wife and mother of three sons, had always enjoyed sharing the dramatic arts with children. When her sons began leaving home, she started volunteering at a children's hospital, using puppets and creative drama activities to help patients. She entered a masters' degree program in creative dramatics at a nearby university, researching the effects of puppet therapy on pediatric patients. Excerpted from: When You're Facing the Empty Nest by Mary Ann Froehlich Copyright © 2006; ISBN 0764200186 Published by Bethany House Publishers Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. You can purchase the book for $12.99 in our online bookstore visiting here.