Estelle Watson Sanders reflects on a time predating Women’s Lib and Equal Rights for Women, acknowledging her physical age while asserting her heart feels young. Recalling childhood aspirations to join Little League like her brothers, she faced gender discrimination, learning girls were excluded. These experiences, including job rejections based on gender, inspired her poem “The Glass Ceiling,” drawn from personal struggles resonating with many women.

The collection of poems, Leaves Falling Upon the Sky, a Reflection of a Life So Far, invites the reader to examine ordinary life events such as “Mowing the Lawn” or “Peeling Potatoes” from a unique perspective. Estelle’s way of seeing is, as the title suggests, like looking at autumn leaves drifting upward towards the sky rather than falling down to earth. By looking at our shared experiences from the humorous morning weigh-in depicted in “The Scale” to the serious business of caring for loved ones in “The Sick Child”, the writer shows that we can find meaning in the routines that make up a life. In the Reflections section, the poem “On Ageing” recalls the ageing Ulysses embarking on a new quest as an optimistic view that old age can be a beginning rather than an end. Finally, some thoughts on our shared Covid isolation in “My Library Fridge” and “Acres of Time” demonstrate the variety and relevance of this Reflection of a Life So Far. The works mentioned are just an excerpt from over 50 pieces in this book that I hope you will find inspiring as well as fun to read.