THE CRONE STORIES

For a whole season I have asked women to sit with me and tell me their lives. This time I filled out the form myself, answered my own questions, and heard my own story read back to me.

At fifty, I had just closed a business I had spent almost ten years building, and I was still missing my mother. So I walked the Camino, 800 kilometres across Spain. This story is less about the walk and more about why I went, and how long it took to finally forgive myself.

If you have ever let one ending speak for a whole chapter of your life, this one is for you.

It was harder from the other side than I expected. But hearing it in the third person gave me some distance. I could see that woman the way I see every woman who sits with me, and I knew how I would comfort her if I could.

The Long Way Around is live now. I am showing you some parts of me I have not shared publicly before.

THIS WEEK'S SITTING

If you find you want the closing meditation from this episode on its own, here it is for you. This one is about forgiveness, first for someone else, and then for yourself.

A Meditation for Self-Forgiveness

WHAT COMES NEXT

On Friday, November 20, I am telling my mother's story, and it goes somewhere most stories about our mothers never go. It is about her as a single woman, and her sexuality later in life. Season Two begins in January.

And I am still looking for women to sit with me. Maybe you have started something new, or come through a divorce. Maybe you are caring for an aging parent, or learning to love your grown children from a little further away. Or maybe, like me, you honestly do not know yet what this next chapter looks like. I would love to hear from you, and you can share your story anonymously if you would rather not use your name.

Just finding us? Start at the beginning. Go back to the beginning.

Tell one woman you love.

In love, light and laughter — Karen