Guest Blogger: Carol Sue Gershman, author of The Jewish Lady, The Black Man and the Road Trip

I have a guest blogger today! Carol Sue Gershman, author of the memoir, The Jewish Lady, The Black Man and the Road Trip, is joining us as part of her virtual book tour for Pump Up Your Book Promotion!

Finding Love After 50
by Carol Sue Gershman

I personally have had more love affairs after 50 than ever before. In fact, love started pouring in after 50.

How can I explain this...

As a 14 year old teenager I fell in love with a guy. I knew the moment I saw him that I wanted to marry him, and while I did date, I was more of a lady in waiting for him to come around. Yes, I did win him over and we had many, many happy years together and are dear friends to this day.

However, we ended up separating after all, and I began to date.

I had the opportunity of going back to when I was 19 in spirit, the age that I married and re-living those same years. It was at the time that the younger man, older woman came into focus so I had a slew of potential dates.

I travelled all over the world and met men; in fact I probably enjoyed the company of men in most countries of the world. Please do not get me wrong as I was not promiscuous. I was making up for my teenage years and having experiences.

I had shorter term relationships as I did not want anything close to marriage, but as I grew and got older, my relationships got longer. I can honestly say that fifty is fabulous, sixty in sensational and seventy sizzles all with passion and all by dating. My theory is to keep yourself in good shape, keep yourself healthy and stylish and stay up with the times. If you do that, it makes no difference what so ever how old you are.

I think on line dating is terrific. When I put up a great picture and smile and write something clever I am inundated with responses. I might do that for a month at a time, stopping and later picking it up again. I have met some great guys on the free sites like Craigslist, Google; there is no need to sign up for expensive sites that lock you in.

I imagine it is good to set your goals, rich man, poor man, handsome, charming, etc. but I am an independent woman so good companionship is what I look for. I also have no qualms about sharing expenses with a man. Unless if he is very wealthy, I am sure he is watching his money as well, and I do not take advantage. At this point of life men usually have a ex-wife or kids to think about, so sharing is fine with me.

There is nothing wrong with calling a man, in fact setting it up that way is a blessing. Nobody likes waiting by the phone.
The next time you are attracted to a man ask him for his card immediately!. How often have I made that mistake and sometimes the opportunity passes...

Love after 50 or 60 is more passionate than back then. And with the right partner it can be a lot more fun. We know the tricks.

Carol Sue

Constantly reinventing herself, Carol Sue Gershman attended the Miami Dade College memoir class and decided that she would turn her two and a half page “Adventure in Love Story” into a book. Never having written before, it was passion that drove her each day to write.

After spending 25 years in New York City, she was one of the first to arrive into the new phenomenon of Miami Beach (South Beach) She is presently writing her next book while working on laws to ban smoking in residential buildings.
Now at 73 she will take her completed book back on the road re-living the cities and states visited on the road trip. You might just see her driving her hot yellow mustang convertible packed with books, hats and what it takes for life on the road.

You can visit her website by clicking here.

Baby Boomers in Puerto Vallarta - Pt. II with Jenny McGill

Jenny McGill is back with us today with Pt. II of her guest post, Baby Boomers in Mexico!

Come spend one Saturday morning with me in this mountain village, Talpa de Allende. My neighbors are decorating their houses for the coming Christmas holiday. They are planning their posadas and piñata parties.

Today is Dia de Tianguis. Tianguis is like a street market. Local vendors and people from big cities like Guadalajara bring their goods to town every fifteen days and set up stands on a pre-designated street. My shopping list is made; I’m dressed in a warm sweater that I can take off when the sun burns off the fog. In a shopping bag I have packed my watch that stopped running last week, the blender that I dropped yesterday morning and a piece of fabric that I want to take to the dressmaker.

Memo, the watch fixer is close to the front of the line of vendors. He has a shop in town, but always sets up his stand in the street on Tianguis Day. We greet each other and I ask after his children. He tells me to leave my watch while I do the shopping.

We pass the fisherman’s truck, several fruit and vegetable stands that we will visit on our way back up the street. The cassette stand is blaring out mariachi music; the lingerie stand has some mighty sexy underwear on display and the potted plant man has huge poinsettias for the equivalent of $3.00. He has brought in scarlet, pink and white ones this year. I like red in my house at Christmastime. Perhaps you’ll pick the pink.

Further down the street Chela and Raul are dicing mango, papaya and watermelon. You can buy a 15 ounce cup of a mixture of your choice for 1.00. Chela offers to squeeze fresh lime juice over it and sprinkle with hot chili powder and salt if you like.

We stroll on down past the shoes, socks and handbags. The next table is loaded with herbs and spices and next to that is my blender man. He has run an electric cable from a friend’s house behind his stand so he can check out the appliances. He works on blenders, hair dryers, irons and sewing machines. The next table is loaded with brightly colored yarns, threads, stamped cloths ready to be embroidered, needles, zippers and scissors. I pick out a spool of thread to match the fabric in my bag and you spot some funny iron-on patches to cover the hole in your kid’s britches.

Manuel has brought his espresso coffee machine to market today and the smell is enticing, but we’re still munching on fruit.

Time for the heavy stuff. My favorite produce man is Roberto. His helpers are still unloading his truck parked behind his stand. Cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, bean sprouts, tomatoes, onions, peppers and lettuce pile up before him. You pick out snow peas, strawberries, bananas and pineapple. Robert weighs our purchases on an old scale, and he calls out the total as he goes, “Quince, treinta, treinta dos, cuarenta.” We have bought enough fruit and vegetables to last us almost all week for about $9.00.

I pick up the blender. Cost for new jar: $5.00. My watch needed a new battery. Memo tells me, “My price to you is the equivalent of $3.00 and a smile for the work.”

We check out the fisherman’s truck. It all looks and smells fresh. I choose a big red snapper for $3.50 and you offer to fix your favorite shrimp recipe for lunch. One kilo in the shell, a bit on the large size for what he calls medium costs ten dollars. That’s enough to serve four easily.
We continue on our route, stopping at the chicken man’s store buying chicken and fresh country eggs. We stop by the meat market with the red banner flying out front that indicates there was a fresh kill this morning. Pork ribs, chops, ground round and beef for a stew rounds out our shopping.

In total, we have spent under $50.00 for enough food for four people for a week. Throw in a bit of rice, beans and tortillas or bread and you might go to $55.00.

Yes, I believe Baby Boomers can still live well in Mexico.

Jenny McGill is the author of the memoir, DRAMA & DIPLOMACY: IN SULTRY PUERTO VALLARTA. You can visit her website at www.mjmcgill.com.

Baby Boomers in Puerto Vallarta - Pt. I with Jenny McGill

If you could retire to anywhere in the world, where would that be? Most boomers opt to stay put in the U.S., but for Jenny and Howard McGill, they had set their goals higher - in sunny and sultry Puerto Vallerta, Mexico.

Puerto Vallerta is a great vacation hotspot, but what can it give retirees in the U.S. who might not want to cross the border?

Jenny is here with us today to explain why Puerto Vallarta happens to be a fantastic place not only for vacationers, but retirees, also.

Baby Boomers in Mexico by Jenny McGill

Before the world economy fell on its nose in late September 2008, Baby Boomers were dreaming of retiring in Mexico. “Why would anybody want to live in Mexico?” you ask.

My husband & I have lived in Mexico thirty-five years. I hate the word ‘ex-pat’, and I’m not one now. Nobody gets more patriotic that I, especially when I hear patriotic music and see Old Glory flying. And I’ve hosted many 4th of July parties in Puerto Vallarta and in Talpa de Allende, where we now live.

For those coming from the harsh cold, Mexico offers the best year-round climate of anywhere in the world. Granted, costal towns can be on the hot side in the summer, but it can get pretty miserable in the U.S and Canada in July and August also. You won’t find snowmobiles on any of our streets. It actually snowed for about thirty minutes in Guadalajara a few years back. It was a great photo-op. I’ve seen frost in December and January here in the mountains. It is a wonderful opportunity to huddle a little longer by the kitchen fireplace.

We’re into the holiday season, but there’s no scurrying back and forth like you might be doing. There is plenty of time for baking and decorating the house. My fruit cakes are already getting their daily dose of liqueur, but we haven’t done our major shopping yet.

Guadalajara and Lake Chapala areas have been popular spots for retirees since shortly after World War II. Disabled or retired veterans could live much better on their pensions than anywhere else. And the Mexicans were friendly and helpful to them.

Times have changed, but some things never change. The number of zeros after the dollar $ign may have changed, but the friendliness, the temperate climate, fresh vegetables, delicious fruit and fish caught this morning are good reason to keep dreaming. You can’t call Mexico primitive or a third-world country anymore.

You would have to go deep into the jungle or to a remote corner of the country not to find electricity, telephone and telegraph service, television and Internet hookups, medical facilities, good transportation, financial institutions and schools from mandatory kindergarten to optional universities.

Very few private homes have central heat or air conditioning. We don’t need them; therefore, our utility bills are low. Property taxes and water bills are low.

I still think Baby Boomers can see their dreams come true.

...continued tomorrow

Jenny McGill is the author of the memoir, DRAMA & DIPLOMACY: IN SULTRY PUERTO VALLARTA. You can visit her website at www.mjmcgill.com.

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