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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Leza Lowitz</span><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
- </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From
<em>"If Women Ruled the World"</em></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edited by Sheila Ellison</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Woman's
Midlife Wisdom</span></span></span><b style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></b></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><strong style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WAITING</span></span></strong><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">You keep waiting for something to happen,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">the thing that lifts you out of yourself,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">catapults you into doing all the things you've put off</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">the great things you're meant to do in life,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">but somehow never quite get to.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">You keep waiting for the planets to shift</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">the new moon to bring news,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">the universe to align, something to give.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Meanwhile, the piles of papers, the laundry, the dishes, the job---</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">it all stacks up while you keep hoping</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">for some miracle to blast down upon you,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">scattering the piles to the winds.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Sometimes you lie in bed, terrified of your life.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Sometimes you laugh at the privilege of waking.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">But all the while, life goes on in its messy way.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">And then you turn forty. Or fifty. Or sixty...</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and some part of you realizes you are not alone</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and you find signs of this in the animal kingdom---</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">when a snake sheds its skin, its eyes glaze over,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">it slinks under a rock, not wanting to be touched,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and when caterpillar turns to butterfly,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">if the pupa is brushed, it will die---</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and when the bird taps its beak hungrily against the egg</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">it's because the thing is too small, too small,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and it needs to break out.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">And midlife walks you into that wisdom</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">that this is what transformation looks like---</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">the mess of it, the tapping at the walls of your life,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">the yearning and writhing and pushing,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">until one day, one day</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">you emerge from the wreck</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">just as you are,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">no, even better than that</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">because you know it now</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">both the immense dawn
</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and the dusk of the body</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">and it's all still there,</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">glistening and new.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">####</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p>
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