Slim Pickins'

My mom is pulling together a bunch of stories about dating after 70. She is 86 now and has a lot of funny moments to write about. Like the guy Walter who picked her up for her date wearing a U-Haul uniform. Now to understand the humor in that, you'd have to know my mother. She grew up during the depression. In the midst of it, she was snatched up by her aunt and brought to Boston to live the rest of her young life. She took private voice lessons, attended the New England Conservatory of Music, went to poetry readings, went to college, and essentially lived a life of refinement from 14 onward.

When she decided to write these short stories, she had a hard time coming up with the title. I told her to call them Slim Pickins' because there were few guys in her age group from which to choose. She's decided to accept that fact and simply be happy alone. I think she still wants to have a 'significant other' but she is pragmatic. She can't take care of another man. She's done enough of that, first my dad when he was dying and then her third husband Don who slowly died from emphysema. She has done her share of care taking and is ready for someone to take care of her.

But her stories are funny and I hope we can get them published for a large audience to enjoy them. After all, with our population aging, they could be quite the hit!