When the Flames Go Up
When the Flames Go Up
Episode 37: "While I still can, my answer is always Yes."
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Episode 37: "While I still can, my answer is always Yes."

Laurie Smithwick began planning to send her twin daughters off to college “on the way home from the gynecologist’s office.” But her parents, career shift, and addiction to newness keep her busy.

As a mother of twins and self-described overthinker,

began planning for sending her daughters off to college “on the way home from the gynecologist’s office.” So when the house was suddenly empty again, she was ready.

She was taught to embrace change as an opportunity by her dynamic parents—a mom who’s working on her eighth book and a dad who’s still processing the medical accident that paralyzed his leg. That intermediate downsizing a few years ago was a bitch, but it was worth it.

Like

told us in Episode 16, Laurie is finding her creative center in her 50s, having transitioned from a graphic design business owner to a full-time artist. And after a couple years of self-schooling, she’s playing bass and singing in Channeling Granny, her band that debuted last night.

Thanks for listening to When the Flames Go Up! Please consider a paid subscription to support our writing and podcasting and appreciation for hot bass licks.

We also talk about the late, lamented Draw Something app, the post-menopausal miracle that restored her oenophilia, and firsthand proof of what Mad Men got wrong about agency creatives.

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When the Flames Go Up
When the Flames Go Up
After we divorced, we started a blog about co-parenting to learn how to work together until our kids were grown. And now that they are, and the world is so busy disrupting and disavowing what we thought we were working for, we're looking to our community to help us all keep up.