Karla chimes in

Hello and welcome to my first blog entry. If you’ll recall, I’m your new moderator, Karla. With me, you’re going to get a view from the other side of 50. I’m 51, single and have two boys, aged 19 and 9 – one off to university, one to grade 4 – and have just re-entered the full-time work force after many years of freelancing (you’ll hear more about that in my next blog entry). I look forward to presenting some ideas that hopefully many of you will relate to or at least have an opinion about.

We have an update from your fabulous former blog moderator Alison. She has just become the proud mother of baby #2, a beautiful 7lb 9oz boy. ‘Twas a bit of a rough go, but mom and baby are doing great, and mom will will take some well deserved r&r. And thank goodness for grandmothers – Alison’s mom. She has jumped into full time doula duty and will run the show for a bit until Alison’s back on her feet.

As a belligerent, rebellious teenager, I used to fight with my mother at every turn – about everything. Ever since my first child was born, we’ve become buddies. We’re still very different people, but we’ve come to appreciate each other in a way that can only happen when you share common experiences – such as having children. And although we’re twenty something years apart, we’ve got more in common than ever before. Since I don’t have the same urgent need to assert myself, I’m so much more open to what she has to say – which is often insightful. How about you? Do you feel closer or not to the elder females in your life? Do you have more or less in common with them now than when you were a teenager? Submit your responses here.

I’d like to thank you Alison, for your great perspective, and wish you great good luck with your new son.