Gerry Ellen

60 and Fabulous Gerry Ellen

How does a new decade feel? It's an excellent question that I'm exploring and embarking upon for the 2019-2020 year. Perhaps I'll know as the months move along, as the *22* stories encased in these pages reveal the hidden secrets I've been writing about for as long as I began a healing process. I've combed through oodles of my work, never feeling as though I'd publish any of it. It wasn't until I had a major lightning bolt moment-that eureka moment, if you will-that we writers and human beings crave. It sneaked up on me and knocked me upside the head until one day, when I felt like a bubbling cauldron, I couldn't keep these stories to myself any longer. As I read through each of the 22 vignettes, the glaring truth was relevant on how aging is an immaculate conception of sorts, the very nature that houses my virtues and prepares a woman for entering a new realm of discovery and love. It's not for the faint of heart, yet turning 60 means more than simply being inducted fully into the AARP and receiving senior citizen discounts at various places. I've arrived and survived, not without countless bumps, bruises, and scars to show for it. My hair is getting grayer, my body speaks to me more often about its woes and celebrations, and my love of writing has grown evermore. Once I reached over to what's meaningful and utterly forsaken of my previous decades, approaching another milestone feels as though sharing every emotion--and never waning--is what my heart was seeking in order to be set free. It's been there all along. Hello 60 and you fabulous babe, you!