A must -read for midlifers and above

On my 50th birthday, our only daughter, gifted me with a copy of the book : COMING TO TERMS. For the past nine years or so, I read the book over and over again, and thought I should tell you about it, so you'll also feel the contentment that I feel after reading it.

It is a compilation of writings on midlife by 15 women, namely: Bernardita A. Azurin, Florina F. Castillo, Gemma Guerrero Cruz, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, Chic Fortich, Mariel N. Francisco, Judette A. Gallares,r.c., Margarita Go Singco-Holmes, Marra PL. Lanot, Carolina S. Malay, Asuncion David Maramba, Imelda M. Nicolas, Alice A. Panares, Ma. Agnes O. Prieto, and Tessie Tomas.

The foreword was done by my favorite PDI columnist, Conrado de Quiroz. I quote: " Among the paradoxes of life that they reveal: It is the worst time of all, it is the best time of all. It is a time of panic, of seeing the beginning of the end, of looking back and wondering if all that one was amounted to a hill of beans. But it is also a time of learning, of standing at the threshold of new things, of wondering if looking back and finding oneself wanting is not the most stupid thing to do. It is a time of finding old answers to new questions. It is a time of asking new questions to old answers.

It is a time of death, it is a time of life..."

The book was edited by no other than Ms. Lorna Kalaw-Tirol. Says she: ...I wanted other women to know that midlife is not a dead end, that it need not be the crisis that it is to many of us, that it can in fact be the best time of our lives."

COMING TO TERMS - Writings on Midlife by 15 Women. Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1994.