Spirit and Self
The Miracle of Aging
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Laurie doesn't know who she is anymore.
At age 50, Laurie says she doesn't know who she is anymore. She was once a married, stay-at-home mom, a role she says she loved.

At 45, she was widowed. "The title widow made me feel very old," she says.

Now, her youngest daughters are married and out of the house. "All of a sudden I wasn't a mom anymore, and the house was completely empty, and I cried," she says.

Laurie says she never expected to be in this position at this stage in her life. "I just feel like that part of my life is over now. I don't feel like I really have a worthwhile thing I'm doing in my life right now like I did then," she says. "I knew I'd get older, but I really thought that I was going to be the kind of person that was going to embrace it. And when it hit it was like, 'Where did this come from?' … Some days I look in the mirror, and the woman looking back at me isn't me anymore. I wonder where that woman I used to be went."

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From the show The Age of Miracles: The New Midlife