Sam Dawson - Broad Appeal: Wit and Wisdom from Women Ages Sixty to Ninety

What some celebrities have said

Broad Appeal is exactly what this book has. I couldnt put it down nor wait to share it with my 28-year-old daughter, my husband, my best friends (male, female, gay, straight). Fascinating! Lucie Arnaz , actress, singer, dancer and producer

Broad Appeal just solved my Christmas shopping dilemma for next year. Every one of my girlfriends is getting a copy, regardless of her age! Adrienne Barbeau , actress and best-selling author

Broad Appeal is the perfect little inspirational bedside book for women of any age. Carol Channing , singer, actress, comedienne and recipient of three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination

What a great array of seventy womens life experiences from ages 60 to 90. I couldnt stop reading them! My kudos to Sam Dawson for making Broad Appeal a reality. The reader will be caught up, as I was, on the blatant honesty of why some women hate turning 60 and others who, as they age, gain wisdom and a better understanding of life, love and spirituality. I guarantee everyone will enjoy and learn! Rhonda Fleming , leading lady of film and television in the 1940s and 50s

What a great collection of womens personal views and life experiences! Go fearless women, go! Barbara Van Orden , entertainer and nightclub singer

I love the book. Its all about me. Age is a state of mind. My mind is still curious and filled with will, wit and wisdom and the freedom to be all I have become. Dawn Wells , actress (Mary Ann on Gilligans Island )

Broad Appeal

Wit and Wisdom From Women Ages Sixty to Ninety

Sam Dawson

Broad Appeal

Wit and Wisdom From Women Ages Sixty to Ninety

Copyright 2012 Sam Dawson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4582-0523-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4582-0524-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012913589

Abbott Press rev. date: 3/6/2013

Contents

To all the women who allowed me to interview them and who shared their most candid thoughts with me, you taught me much. And to every woman hesitant to step out of her comfort zone and try something new do it. I did with this project, and it changed me in positive ways. I wish the same for you.

T here are a number of people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for helping this book become a reality. First and foremost are the more than seventy women who shared their lives with me. (They are listed in the back of the book.) Without all of you, there would be no book. You are Broad Appeal . Thank you for helping me see that there is a full, rich life ahead.

When I started this project, I knew what I wanted to accomplish but had no idea how. It was Trina Belanger (Quill Studios) who taught me how. Shes my coach and editor. Trina guided me, wrote with me, and cajoled me. She kept asking me to be better. She pushed me to be authentic and to use what she calls Sam Speak. I kept writing, and she kept correcting. I thought Id never earn an A. When I finally did, she asked for an A+. Thank you, Trina. Without you, Broad Appeal would be yet another book that was a great idea but didnt happen. You made it real.

I am not an organized person. When you are trying to keep track of seventy-plus women and their thoughts, youd better have a system. I want to thank my long-term boyfriend, Mark Sommerfield, for being my living, breathing Excel spreadsheet and for being so supportive and loving during this adventure. He was my photographer as well, and I was a very difficult subject. Thank you, Mark, for knowing when to step away and when to step in and help. You kept me sane (or at least tried to).

I am also grateful to my children: to Connie and Carrie, who listened and applauded when I most needed encouragement, and especially to my youngest daughter, Jennifer, who is a writer. As the mother of three young daughters herself, her time is limited yet she devoted all she could to edit, suggest, and cheer me on. Thank you, girls; I love you.

To Bonnie Toth, designer extraordinaire, who stepped in to help me find the interior look of Broad Appeal , a special heartfelt thank you.

Finally, a big thanks to all my friends who put up with my talking about this book for (what seemed like) forever. What started as a whim became a three-year odyssey, one I could not have survived without a community of wonderful, supportive friends. Youre a great bunch of broads!

The bottom line is you cant prevent the body from getting older.
I guess thats what pisses me off. Susie, 60

T urning 60 felt like the end of the world. Id had no real trouble with the previous decades. Heck, in my late 40s I had two men vying for me. That was a fabulous and unexpected place to be: older than 40 and a femme fatale. And it only got better. When I turned 50, I was married for the second time and deeply in love. He said I was perfect and beautiful, so thats how I felt. Since he was much older he said Id always be the kid to him. He called me his dream girl. But a nightmare loomed. As I approached 60 he died on me. I had to face that over-the-hill decade alone, no longer feeling perfect and beautiful, no longer a kid, and no longer somebodys dream girl.

Plus I was disappointed in what Id accomplished (meaning not accomplished) with my life. Id always wanted to feel that when I left this world, Id leave behind some sort of legacy and the world would be a better place because I showed up and made a difference. In my opinion, Id not done much. And now I saw the end pretty clearly. Odds were I could count on maybe twenty good years left to make that difference.

While I aspired to make the world a better place, I expected to do it looking cute. But my body had ideas of its own. Now older than 60, it seemed as though parts were falling off and falling down. My face started sinking. I found I was literally fading away, my olive skin lightening and my salt-and-pepper hair losing its pepper. I solved that by dying it. But what do you do with your hands? Mine now had crinkles and speckled age spots between puffy blue veins. Is there Botox for hands? I doubt it, and Michael Jackson was the only one who could get away with gloves as a fashion statement. My knees wrinkled, and while in the Down Dog yoga pose I could count the wrinkles around my ankles sort of like age rings on a tree. Who would have expected that? One of my best assets had always been my ass, with men telling me how great it was. Now it had grown to become a different great; I could stand naked in front of the mirror and see it without turning around. And I seemed destined to gain ten pounds a decade. I exercised my ass off (well, obviously not), yet the pounds kept on comin. I used to have a shapely waist, but I had started resembling a fire hydrant. When I was young I was small-breasted (okay, flat-chested). After menopause my breasts grew dont ask me why so I finally had cleavage, but it was wrinkled. Ya cant win.