That force, of course, is not always benign. There are times when you worry past midnight about one child's intractable dyslexia, another's temper, another's addictive consumerism, another's ill-concealed hostility to your own loveable self. Darker impulses not withstanding, however, we lucky women are embracing grannyhood with zeal. But we, who had to fight stereotypes in the workplace, refuse now to submit to new caricatures. Even the women's magazines patronize us with cutesy coverlines.
Stereotypes die hard, even when they are at our own expense.
But Mirela and Raquel turned out to be younger than I imagined, and a lot more, well, like us. Their hair was coiffed, they wore suits, not aprons. They held news conferences. They were strong. They didn't cry.