I have really been inJOYing photographing the beautiful Wise Women volunteering their exquisiteness over the last few months for my new project. The shoots are joyous and easy, the women who show up are confidant and at ease with their irreplaceable beauty and their divine wisdom. Some are still working on loving themselves in entirety and yet are fully aware of their preciousness. And the best part, at least for me, is that they inspire me to feel lovely. Here is a glimpse of the gorgeous Cheryl and a bit of her story.

"Elderhood

Turning 60 was magical and liberating, and I felt it instantly in a way I had not at all expected. A lot of pressure seemed to fall away. I am an elder now. It does not matter that I am a little less physically strong or a little slower. I have a huge well of experience to draw from. It’s easier to do even difficult and complex things because something inside me simply knows how. I have lived with my creativity long enough to know it ebbs and flows, and I can have faith that if it’s in ebb, the flow always comes back. I can rest with the ebb and work like a demon when in flow.

Losing my parents was also liberating. I’m grateful for the surprising peace and quiet after a lot of internal shadow boxing. I think that if we’re very lucky we get three gifts from parents. Being here in the first place, values (whether we go with them or go a different way), and witnessing aging and deaths that begin to prepare us for our own. I’m lucky. I’ve always followed my nose and I have jumped off a lot of cliffs but have always managed somehow to fly. I have dear friends and a loving, true life partner and together we feel lucky every day.

Maybe the luckiest thing is that I have learned that all I really have is my own story, and that is all I need."

-Cheryl, age 61

Artist, Mythologist, Educator