extracted from email

Dear Rick,

I was a very smart young woman back in the late fifties but that wasn’t a time when women, even educated women competed with men for top jobs.  I married, raised three children and managed to work my way up the ranks in a corporate office until I retired in 1992.  When my husband passed away last year, he was praised by everyone and my children made very eloquent speeches attributing their intelligence and professional success to him.  Frankly, it was a slap in the face to me.  My husband was a good man and smart enough to know that my I.Q. was 20 points higher than his so he let me make all the important decisions while raising our kids.  For over 50 years I stayed in the background, managing the family finances, raising the children and quietly working in the Corporate world with no recognition.  I accept that it was my decision to live that way and that is not my problem.

After the funeral, I decided to release the “real me”.  I’m taking advanced classes at the local college, participating in lectures and plan to write a book.  When I told my oldest child I have been a MENSA member since the late 70’s, he made me show him my membership card!  He still thinks I’m telling stories and lies to everyone.  My daughter asked one of my neighbors to watch over me because I’d have a hard time managing my affairs now that my husband is gone.  I played my part so well for so long, even my adult children never knew the real me.  They think I have lost my mind.  Now I’m afraid if I ever have a single “senior moment”, they are going to throw me in a “home” somewhere.  What can I do?

Joyce M.