Sculpting the Mist

How do we live in our middle-old years—after age 70 or so, when early retirement excitement has waned, yet years of living stretch out before us? "Middling-old" is a developmental stage that comes after young senior and before frail elder. Middling-old requires making shapes from days that are seemingly shapeless.

In 2019, June Underwood, age 77, started daily writings—recording stories taken from her immediate space and place. She wrote of neighboring days, mewling cats, and guys in hot rods smiling at old ladies. She recorded thoughts about gardens, music, and poetry. Her writing gave her days shape. Life was stable and quiet. 

Then Covid, the national insurrection, and cancer interfered. Art, music, and kinwork swelled in importance. The reports ended in March 2021. In 2023, Underwood added comments and insights about those earlier jottings. Sculpting the Mist is a record, from an aging perspective, of some quietly crazy years. Our middling-old age requires appreciating the quotidian, in all its bumps and quirks, as well as telling the stories that shape our lives.