Introduction

"No longer indispensable, no longer assured of our old carefully crafted identities, no longer beautiful in the way we were at twenty or thirty or forty, we are hungry and searching nonetheless."

From the author of The Gift of an Ordinary Day, this intimate memoir of loss, self-discovery, and growth will resonate deeply with any woman who has ever mourned the passage of time, questioned her own purpose, or wondered, "Do I have what it takes to create something new in my life?"

With the candor and warmth that have endeared her to readers, Kenison reflects on the inevitable changes wrought by time: the death of a dear friend, children leaving home, recognition of her own physical vulnerability, and surprising shifts in her marriage. She finds solace in the notion that midlife is also a time of unprecedented opportunity for growth as old roles and responsibilities fall away, and unanticipated possibilities appear on the horizon.

More a spiritual journey than a physical one, Kenison's beautifully crafted exploration begins and ends with a home, a life, a marriage. But this metamorphosis proves as demanding as any trek or pilgrimage to distant lands-it will guide and inspire every woman who finds herself asking "What now?"

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Excerpt

prologue

Mostly, we play Banana.

It is the last week of July, a stretch of hot, sunny, high-summer weather, and my son and I have six schools to visit in six days, strung from the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont to the southwestern corner of Massachusetts. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Katrina admits that for many years she found her sense of purpose in the roles she was expected to fulfill: married woman, mother, writer, editor, home-maker. After her younger son leaves home, she feels unmoored and reveals, “Now I suspect I didn’t know who I was, so much as where I needed to be at any given moment and what I needed to be doing.”

Where do you find your sense of purpose? Have changes in your life or circumstances ever shaken your sense of self?

2. “It’s so easy to overlook the wonder of life until something threatens to snatch it from us. How willingly we sacrifice the days of our lives to trivial distractions—silly computer games, unnecessary errands, useless worry.”

Do you agree? How do you remind yourself to pay attention to the wonder of life? Have you ever received a “wake-up call” that jolted you into deeper awareness? What was it?

3. “A good life is always partly a matter of luck, but it is also a choice we make for ourselves – a choice of deliberation, attention, creativity, limits. A choice predicated on this belief: I am worthy.”

How do you define a good life? After years of caring for children, meeting the demands of jobs, tending to marriages and colleagues and friends, how difficult is it for us to switch gears and begin to attend more closely to our own needs as well? Are you able to say, “I am worthy” -- and to make choices that meet your own needs?

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Weblinks

»	Author Katrina Kenison's web site & Contact Info
»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Follow Katrina Kenison on Facebook
»	Watch a You Tube video with an excerpt of Magical Journey
»	Watch "The Gift of an Ordinary Day"

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