Lingering Thoughts

I think that’s what we’re doing at Spoken Lives by curating stories that we find empowering. It was so helpful for me to hear other women’s stories when I went through my late-life divorce. It was a lifeline to a future I couldn’t imagine. Women shared that a few...

​Self-love allows us to nurture ourselves so we can live more comfortably in our own skin. We can find joy in simpler things when our own cup is full. I heard that we can even live longer when we take good care of ourselves. Yet, how do we regain or maintain our own...

I’m a big fan of maintaining a bucket list. With lockdowns and restrictions, it’s been tougher than ever to decide what will stay on my list. My ‘Lockdown Vision Board’ really helped get me through the last few years. On it, I added pictures and goals that I could...

My father wrote a letter to his parents after I was born to describe Mom’s labour and my arrival. Six decades later, I was given that letter from an aunt. She had inherited my grandmother’s desk decades earlier. It expresses his humour and he describes his deep love...

Women have invented so many things to make life easier. When my children were young, I noticed a lack of products that could help mothers but did not invent them. I’ve seen many of these items enter the market since and thought “A woman invented that!” For example,...

We celebrate women here every month, but October is Women’s History Month. We want to celebrate each and every one of you, this month. Please take a moment to consider what you have contributed to your family, friends, career and community. Have you heard of ‘the...

Bette Davis coined that a long while ago and my Mother often quoted her. I became a senior last month and this month is Healthy Aging Month. Can this be a coincidence? lol. WHO (World Health Organization) defines healthy aging as “the process of developing and...

In Canada, working conditions for women have improved over the span of my working years. There’s still room for improvement, but in my birthday month, I am remembering how far we’ve come. I was first a single working woman in the 1970s and it was not pretty. The...

Happy Summer! Yes - July offers full on summer in Ontario.  As the number of fully vaccinated people rise and COVID numbers drop, the restrictions are lifted. We can start easing back to doing things that we used to do. My aim is to only add back things that are...

Happy Summer! Yes - June delivers our official start to summer. In Ontario, the weather has delivered it this weekend. Happy PRIDE! There’s so much to celebrate. Steady progress for a more inclusive society. Sending a virtual hug to all our LGTBQIA2S+ (an acronym for...