Water Running Downhill!  Words of Empowerment for Women in Midlife

Author: Joan Ellen Gage

http://waterrunningdownhill.com

Reviewed by: Anne Holmes

Joan Ellen Gage is a self-taught poet and photographer and this short book of her poetry is enhanced by her charming and creative photography.

A dental hygienist by training, she says she was inspired to write this book, her first, by her patients, who have shared their stories with her over the years.

“Water Running Downhill” urges us to dance to our music now, before all the water ends up at the bottom of the hill and it is too late to celebrate life.

The book is filled with messages of hope and inspiration, and Joan is a natural cheerleader. Perhaps her thoughts are best explained here, in the poem “Women Who Serve.”

Women Who Serve

Daily they bring me

The stories of their

Lives and loves

These tales speak

To me on a very

Personal level, as

These stories may

Evolve to include mine

These women tell me

Of lives spent

Taking care of everyone

Beginning with raising children

Encompassing perhaps twenty years

And of their being a helpmate

To their spouses, and doing

The never-ending household chores

But, these years of childrearing

Were closely followed with

The caretaking of these women’s

Failing parents; a role reversal where

The parents seemed

To become the children

This was a difficult duty

But it was a duty done out of love

Lastly, the women spoke of

The deterioration of their spouses

Many of these women

Had no funds for outside help

And often were frail themselves

But they bravely served

At their spouses sides

And offered up their

Often-thankless support

Waging a war until the end

There are no purple hearts

For care-giving, and no memorials

This is the reality of women’s lives

This may become your existence and mine

Please, learn by this lesson

This is our time; fly and be free!

Originally Published on NABBW.com

Anne Holmes Boomer-in-Chief of NABBW