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Good morning,
This past week my daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. The joy and awe of watching new life unfold so close to me is indescribable.
But I know this isn’t every woman’s path. Some of us are not mothers, some children choose not to have kids, and others cannot. For many, the hoped-for title of “grandmother” may never come.
This week we take on the “grandchild drought”—how we're navigating this absence, and what it means to find fulfillment and legacy beyond grandchildren. It’s a call to rethink what grandmotherhood means and how we hold space for stories different from our own.
So while I celebrate, I do so with humility and respect for the many paths women walk. Joy in one hand, compassion in the other.
Thank you for being here.
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LIVING OUT LOUD
Real stories of rewiring, relationships, and this messy, beautiful life.
BY NINA MALKIN
What happens when everyone’s passing around baby pics, but you’re left out of the Grandma Club? With birthrates in decline, more and more women over 50 are facing the reality of a “grandchild drought.” The loss can feel deeply personal, but the judgment from others cuts even deeper. What if legacy isn’t measured in cribs and car seats, but in the lives we build on our own terms? What does that look like for you?
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PLUGGED IN
Fresh takes on tech, science, and the future we're living into.
BY SUSAN DABBAR
From suffrage to intersectionality, every wave of feminism has fought erasure. Now comes a new adversary: artificial intelligence—sold as frictionless and benevolent, but already rewriting the rules of autonomy, privacy, and visibility. This is the next frontier of the Fourth Wave—a call to arms just as urgent as the marches that came before. If we don’t demand our place in the code, we risk vanishing from it.
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LAUGH LINES
Humor with bite—because if we're not laughing, what are we even doing?
BY ABBY HEUGEL
We’re told to reinvent ourselves in midlife—launch a startup, run a marathon, or write a memoir about doing goat yoga and living in a yurt. But what if you don’t want a second act right now? What if you just want a nap and zero pressure to prove your existence? With sharp wit and satire, this piece blows up the reinvention industry, calls out the double standards, and dares to say the quiet part out loud. Since when did midlife need a rebrand?
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BRAIN AND BODY
Wellness, emotional fitness, and what nourishes us now.
BY LAUREN MANAKER, M.S., R.D.N., L.D.
What happens when you actually follow the nutrition advice we’re told on repeat? We’ve all heard the lecture: almonds for skin, walnuts for the brain, cashews for sleep. But when a dietitian committed to one handful of nuts a day for 30 days, the results weren’t exactly what she expected. Could this be the simplest anti-aging hack—or just a snack with good PR? Did it curb cravings, smooth wrinkles, or just drive her nuts?
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READER SPOTLIGHT
What you said stopped us cold.
✒️ Here’s what one fabulous reader had to say this week:
"WOW. Loss is part of the human condition meant to be seen, heard, and felt. Individuality will dictate when, where, why, and how grief is expressed…to be dismissed is disrespectful to human nature. Your article validates that loss is real. Connection heals. Thank you for putting this in words. ♥️" — Jan on When Grief Becomes Content Want to be featured next? Drop a comment on your favorite piece—we read them all.
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CULTURE
Sharp commentary on the world around us.
BY HANNAH BROWN
Who doesn’t love a little Renée Z.? If you missed Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy when it dropped, now’s the perfect time to read our take and catch up. Bridget’s back—older, grieving, and still hilariously awkward—but this isn’t a rom-com pity party. It’s a raw, funny, painfully honest look at midlife loss, resilience, and love after heartbreak. She’s mussed, brave, unfinished—and still ours. If Bridget can stumble toward joy, maybe we can too.
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📝 Missed a Thursday drop? No worries. All of our past newsletters are waiting for you right here.
⌨️ Our newsletter and articles are written by Susan and the talented writers of PROVOKED. Get to know the women behind them here.
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