Old Wives Tales: Living Our Lives - Becoming Ourselves Twenty-Five Women's Stories

Welcome to a gathering of extraordinary old women. Let me be clear, to us old isn't a dirty word. Old is ripe, self-aware, experienced and accomplished.
The youngest you'll meet here is sixty-seven years and the eldest is thirty years her senior. If you saw any of us in the market, you'd probably offer to help with bags, adapt to a slower pace and open the car door. You might even admonish, "Be careful," as if the evidence before you didn't suggest a responsible driver for longer than you've lived. Sure, some oldsters shouldn't drive, same as some forty-year olds. We know our limits in many dimensions by having tested, learned and applied.
The sense of Self cannot be manufactured. Dignity is as natural as breath and not to be confused with anything hoity-toity. Perspective comes from having a view of the terrain.
Twenty-five of us share our attitudes toward everything from vicissitudes to pleasure, youth, maturity, spirituality, relationships, challenges and, sometimes, unwarranted exuberance. For the fortunate, with sufficient means, health, relationships and insight, age is fulfilling. Those less fortunate must inspire our compassionate respect and help with their troubles.
My choices, writing and editing shaped the loaf. I have chosen to classify Old Wives as a work of fiction based strongly on the factual material thirty women (and couple of men) have provided.
This is not just my book: it is our book. Thank you (choose as many that apply) ladies, mothers, daughters, wives, lovers, leaders, creators, mischief-makers, religious, rebels, lesbians, chairpersons, followers, husbands and partners. Select as many adjectives as suits your need for definition. We are as multifaceted as the finest diamonds. To see who we were, examine the cover.
Had I been born two hundred years ago, I would have been an Irish shenache. A storyteller. The sighs, laughs, groans of the neighbors gathered on a chilly night would have nourished us all and made me useful in old age to family and neighbors.
Here are the Old Wives, and a couple of good men, who have trusted their life learning to your reading.
May ye be in h'aven before the divil knows yer dead!
Peg Elliott Mayo