• Other Stories

    Retired lady

    Six years ago, after 25 years of too much work and not enough play, I retired. It was time to leave. And don’t forget what Cicely Tyson’s character, Sipsey, said about Idgie Threadgood’s beloved friend, Ruth, in the film, “Fried Green Tomatoes”: “A lady always knows when to leave.” For Sipsey, who nursed Ruth through terminal cancer and gave her the lethal dose of morphine that ended her pain, leaving meant dying. For me, that job – the hours, the workload, the stress – was killing me. Staying meant dying. Leaving meant living. Performing the duties of not one but two people myself for several years had taken its toll on my…