By Iris Ruth Pastor When my son Frank was dating, I asked him what qualities he was looking for in a young woman and he responded that he was seeking someone “who was engaging.” It was a word I seldom used so I stopped to ponder the implications of the meaning of that particular adjective [ Read More...]

By Iris Ruth Pastor It started with the cottage cheese and graham cracker diet in my pre-teens and led to capricious experiments with Diet Workshop, Weight Watchers, Adkins, etc. I have been fighting the battle of my bulge ever since—my whole life, it seems. Apparently, I’m not alone. Recent statistics site that the weight loss [ Read More...]

I am a little confused over my role as the mother of adult sons. Two of my sons are married and three are single. Two live close by and three live in the New York City area. All are between the ages of 27 and 41. I envy my sister who has two grown daughters. [ Read More...]

Five years ago, I became a grandmother. Once I got over the sheer, unadulterated joy of being a grandparent – I did what every other grandmother worth her salt does…I began to worry. I worried about my granddaughter’s formula, her excrement schedule, her sleeping patterns, her temperature, her mood, her burping. I worried myself into [ Read More...]

It’s a new year—in the secular calendar anyway. So what better time to re-dedicate myself to improving and enhancing my life? I, too, am lumped with the masses of humanity who use January 1st of each year to put my yearnings, desires and goals into action mode. Who am I kidding? No matter what time [ Read More...]

Suffering is universal and the older I get the more I see it. I work with young people, ages 21-45. I see the stresses of unemployment, under employment, and staggering college loan debt. I also see the ravages of spurned relationships. I hear the ticking of biological clocks. I see miscarriages in young women yearning [ Read More...]

Incidentally Iris I once took a personality assessment test featured in a women’s magazine. It drew certain conclusions about you from your choices of what brands you found appealing. Starbucks and Nike were my top brand choices. Not surprising. One of my biggest highs comes from the caffeine energy surge, thus my addictive urge to [ Read More...]

By Iris Pastor Contributing Columnist If you were fortunate to know your grandmother(s) or if you are so blessed to be one, have I got a book for you: “The Smartest Woman I Know,” by Ilene Beckerman. I first met Ilene Beckerman face-to-face at the Grille at Palm Court in the Netherland Plaza about 15 [ Read More...]

I figured out what makes me comfortable now that I’m living in a new city – it’s having a Mah Jongg group. Sounds kind of silly if you base it on the fact that for the 30 years or so I lived in Cincinnati as an adult, I don’t think I even played more than [ Read More...]

By Iris Ruth Pastor Contributing Columnist As soon as I pulled out of my driveway on the morning of my 64th birthday a few weeks ago, I was deluged with a steady stream of texts and calls emanating from my cell phone. Instantly bathed in an aura of appreciation, I thought with fresh gratitude of [ Read More...]