Womenzwerk is never done.

As I sit in a darkened room at a Hospice facility, waiting for my Mom to wake up from a deep sleep and wondering what will happen tomorrow, I can't help thinking about all the ways women hold up the world. As it happens, it is also four days after Christmas, the extreme sport of womenzwerk. For the last eight weeks I have been caring for my terminally ill mother, making sure my family has a holiday with all the traditions and trimmings and trying to hold down my full time job. I share this, not to whine, but to illustrate the point. Womenzwerk is never done.

Women of my generation (just turned 50) are marginally insane as a group. We are noted overachievers with high expectations of ourselves and others. So when it comes to womenzwerk, we are pretty much the poster children. This blog will be about celebrating the things we do, coming up with ways to let go of our martyrdom as a gender and finding joy in the mudane tasks we can't get out of.

It will also be a place and a space for sharing whatever we "crones" can offer to the generations of women coming after us. I laughed when I first heard that twenty-somethings have a transitional crisis. But now that I've spent time mentoring and mothering women in their twenties, I can attest to the very real angst that our world of choices presents to young women as they start their serious womenzwerk. Who to marry, when to marry, when to work, how much to work or not to work, where to live, how to remain close to family and travel the world and most importantly how to mix motherhood with everything else they want to do. It's truly daunting. More choices, more anxiety but certainly more opportunities to make womenzwerk into something new and joyful.

It's just a blog for those who can share. It's just a safe place to mentor other women and be mentored.

The sunny day is fading into the early twilight of a winter's night. My mother's life is fading after a lifetime of herculean womenzwerk. Job well done, Mom. May we all do as well.