Between a rock and a hot place : why fifty is not the new thirty

Fifty years of fifty -- Menopause or menostop? -- Sex, estrogen and not so much rock and roll -- If I'm thirty, why do I need a colonscopy? -- If she's fifty, chances are Alice doesn't work here anymore -- The biggest pink slip you will ever get -- You don't look fifty -- I didn't mean to spend it all -- Maddening men -- Ready or not, here death comes -- The flashlight at the end of the tunnel.;A funny, fearless, no-holds-barred look at aging--hormone replacement therapy, online dating, eye lifts, and all. As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Tracey Jackson found herself bombarded--at the gym, at parties, in conversations with friends--by a catchphrase on everyone's lips: "Fifty is the new thirty." The new aphorism had apparently bloomed out of a collective sense of denial, masking the true fears of a generation unwilling to relinquish their youth. With a comedy writer's training and a screenwriter's eye for detail, Jackson skewers the myth in a hilarious and ultimately practical appraisal of what middle age really means today. Turning fifty is a wake-up call--but one that can be greeted with a plan.--From publisher description. A funny, fearless, no-holds-barred look at aging--hormone replacement therapy, online dating, eye lifts, and all As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Tracey Jackson found herself bombarded--at the gym, at parties, in conversations with friends--by a catchphrase on everyone's lips. "Fifty is the new thirty" and the endless magazine articles, photos, and T-shirts proclaiming the new aphorism had apparently bloomed out of a collective sense of denial, masking the true fears of a generation unwilling to relinquish their youth. With a comedy writer's training and a screenwriter's eye for detail, Jackson skewers the myth in Between a Rock and a Hot Place , a hilarious, bare-knuckled, and ultimately practical appraisal of what middle age really means today. Willing not only to face the elephant in the room, but to put him under a (large) microscope, Jackson confronts the truth about death, work, and sex in what the French call the "third age," using poignant, laugh-out-loud stories from her life. Jackson examines the changing roles of motherhood and wifehood; the necessity of planning a "career after your career"; the unvarnished reality of our aging bodies; and the generational shift in our perception of age (" Tight abs was not a phrase my grandmother had ever heard. And even if she had, her response would likely have been, Who needs that when you have a girdle? "). Turning fifty is a wake-up call--but one that can be greeted with a plan. Recounting the changes she went through, the things she learned (and things she didn't) en route to fifty, Between a Rock and a Hot Place navigates, with unsparing honesty and unerring wit, the confusion and uncertainty of the most significant uncharted transition in our lives "Laugh-out-loud funny." #8212;O, the Oprah magazine "Tracey Jackson confronts the speed bumps of life with wit, brilliant insights, and...common sense....Between a Rock and a Hot Place is more than a good read, it's good company." #8212;John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Hollywood screenwriter Tracey Jackson (The Guru, Ashes to Ashes, The Other End of the Line, The Ivy Chronicles, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and others), delivers a funny, fearless, no-holds-barred look at what it really means to turn 50 today. Offering insight into the joys, hurdles, and life lessons surrounding the half-century mark, Jackson explores topics as wide-ranging as hormone replacement therapy, online dating, lifts, nips, tucks, libidos, finances, coping with death, and preparing for the future