Kimberly, this is among my very favorite of all your wonderful essays. So so much to love here, to be inspired by. So much nodding of my head, yes, yes, YES! I am claiming my mastery at 64, having finally found the courage to leave 33 year marriage built on an inequality that I accepted for far too long (This American Ex-Wife took much too long to exit). And yes, to "being the best writer I have ever been," which is not to say brilliance but I know that untethering myself from that marriage opened something big and wide and deep inside myself and the words have come spilling out, at last. And P.S. thanks for sharing Zoe Keating. What a discovery. Exactly the kind of music I like to listen to as I write or daydream.
Thank you for this! I am a bit unmoored, just officially divorced (yay!), on a road trip that yesterday felt a bit like driving into an abyss. Reading this in my hotel room this morning was a pleasant spark.
It's interesting to both feel mastery and not recognition, or a sense of what to do with that knowledge. Does it matter? Good thoughts for the road.
Loved this so much; lots of what I've been percolating (just before reading had asked myself the "what if I die tomorrow" question). This is so perfect: "Mastery recognizes the realities of age but pushes back against the negative assumptions that come packaged with it." To mastery.
Kimberly, this is among my very favorite of all your wonderful essays. So so much to love here, to be inspired by. So much nodding of my head, yes, yes, YES! I am claiming my mastery at 64, having finally found the courage to leave 33 year marriage built on an inequality that I accepted for far too long (This American Ex-Wife took much too long to exit). And yes, to "being the best writer I have ever been," which is not to say brilliance but I know that untethering myself from that marriage opened something big and wide and deep inside myself and the words have come spilling out, at last. And P.S. thanks for sharing Zoe Keating. What a discovery. Exactly the kind of music I like to listen to as I write or daydream.
I love this! And Zoë is just amazing and lovely and so is her music!
Thank you for this! I am a bit unmoored, just officially divorced (yay!), on a road trip that yesterday felt a bit like driving into an abyss. Reading this in my hotel room this morning was a pleasant spark.
It's interesting to both feel mastery and not recognition, or a sense of what to do with that knowledge. Does it matter? Good thoughts for the road.
Ahhhhhh CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to the other side! (It's better here)
I love this. YES.
Loved this so much; lots of what I've been percolating (just before reading had asked myself the "what if I die tomorrow" question). This is so perfect: "Mastery recognizes the realities of age but pushes back against the negative assumptions that come packaged with it." To mastery.