This Way Up

A funny, closely observed, and briskly honest guide to the pleasures and perils of living life fully as a woman on the road to the far side of mid-life. At the age of sixty-eight, with children well-launched and husband long-exed and recently retired from a demanding career, Cathrin Bradbury realized she needed a map—several in fact, some physical, some of the mind and heart—to guide her through the coming milestones and all of the inevitable "comes with age" stuff. This book is her report from the road; a joyful, polished, often hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching exploration of the questions and (some) answers that arise when you hit the three-quarter mark of a busy life. How do you stop shaming yourself about an aging body? (Hint: listen to the kids!) What are you willing to give up to pursue the creative passion you long ago put aside—and what might you gain in return? How do you become someone who allows the day to unfold after decades of list-making and agenda-managing? And what might happen if one day, after nearly fifty years, you suddenly get a text from your first true love? Drawing on her own life and conversations with siblings, younger family members, friends, as well as authorities in social science, philosophy, and literature, Cathrin Bradbury carries us with her as she explores this territory that we all hope to reach, taking on new ideas and adventures with insight, soaring optimism, and a bracing dose of humor.