Amazing Grays: A Woman’s Guide to Making the Next 50 the Best 50 * Regardless of your hair color!

Maggie Rose Crane
FTA Press (2008)
ISBN 9780966087499
Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (12/08)




You have probably never heard this before, “When I grow up I want to be just like my mother-in-law.”  I look at her and think, wow, how does she do it?  I know this woman; life has not always been easy.  She has aged so very gracefully and I just know she is a member of the growing ‘Amazing Grays’ movement that’s proving: Maturing women CAN be vibrant, healthy, wise, engaged with life, sexually active, spiritually connected, physically fit and alive well past 100!  She, like all of the beautiful women in ‘Amazing Grays,’ makes me now look forward to each birthday.  I find myself looking at each woman I see that has made that decision and became a ‘Silver Sage’ wanting to shake their hand and let them know how encouraging they can be to those that will follow.  Media and culture has long stressed that women should be young, shapely and such and when you reached a certain point you are moved on into the sub-culture of older-woman.  How wrong! Pick up this kickin’ guide if you are “Not ready to be a feeble old woman with boobs in your lap, dreams on the shelf, and ‘Memory Lane’ your only destination!”

As Maggie Crane writes, “I decided that rather than succumb to my limiting beliefs and fears about aging, I would challenge them by holding them up to the light of day.”  Instead of accepting the old adage “just because” she lives life the way she wants to, and by doing so is enabling others to find the strength to give up the “just because” life as well.  With humor and grace she will cover social perspectives, “What Aging Means to Us” then jump into physical perspectives, “Becoming Body Wise.”  By the time you are well into this section there will be no turning back and you will be ready for psychological perspectives, “Discovering what’s real.”  As you come to a close in the final section, spiritual perspectives, “Roots of a Deeper Kind” you will truly be a new woman, a woman who is proud of who you have become and this pride will show in every aspect of your life.  

You can read all of the medical books available to prepare you for the transitions life has in store but none will compare to, “Amazing Grays.”  This information-filled book is so much more than a guide, it lets you know how real women face this experience and ways to better prepare yourself when it is your turn. 

Hat’s off to you Maggie Rose Crane!  I look forward to reaching that age 50 milestone and, with her guide, plan on making the next 50 the BEST 50!  I plan on leaving this book on my nightstand and will revisit it often.  By mulling over the practical questions and insight Maggie provides throughout "Amazing Grays", I now have a  better understanding of what to expect as I age. I intend to embrace my new self and instead of wondering how I will make this midlife transition, I now trust that I can do it with grace, gratitude and gusto!

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