In the Middle with Cassandra Lane

"I’m more interested in becoming a best friend to myself."

AHWM:     How old are you?

CASSANDRA LANE:     52

AHWM:     At what age did you consider yourself to be midlife?

CASSANDRA LANE:     50

AHWM:     What’s your personal definition of this stage of life?

CASSANDRA LANE:      Midlife represents, to me, the peak of the mountain. You’ve climbed, slipping and falling and succeeding, during the first half of your life. The work isn’t over once you meet the summit. There, you still have much to explore, but you have enough experience and wisdom to assist those who are trying to get where you are. And you’re still soft enough to be open to the advice that those who are climbing back down the mountain (not to their end, but to find glory in rest and discoveries they missed on the way up) left for you, hanging from tree branches, stuffed just inside bushes, written in the gravel. Your purpose is to reach for some semblance of balance. You are a bridge between these two worlds. And your lesson is to realize that balance and perfection are not one and the same.

AHWM:     What do you believe are the biggest challenges faced by Black women in their middle age?