Laura Friedman Williams

3 weeks ago | laurafriedmanwilliams.medium.com | Laura Williams

Member-only storyReflections on IdentityFinding my way back to myselfLaura Friedman Williams·Follow7 min read·--Photo by Vladislav Muslakov on UnsplashWhen I wrote a book about sex and dating after my marriage ended, I bared myself to a degree that surprised even those who knew me best. I held nothing back, sharing intimate details for my family, friends and strangers to read. And I’ve kept going, openly discussing and writing about sex as I navigate this new chapter of my life: midlife.

2 months ago | laurafriedmanwilliams.medium.com | Laura Williams

Laura Friedman Williams·Follow5 min read·--Girls, Puberty, and the Unwanted Attention of MenPhoto by Joshua Hoehne on UnsplashThe lesson ends a few minutes before the bell is set to ring to release us to our next class, so the teacher tells us to select a book from his small library. He is a dynamic and outspoken man, our middle school social studies teacher — a “real character,” my parents say.

2 months ago | laurafriedmanwilliams.medium.com | Laura Williams

Reflections on IdentityWhen It’s Time to Move OnLaura Friedman Williams·Follow9 min read·--Photo by Tomáš Malík on UnsplashA photo pops up on my phone on Sunday evening. I open it and glance with one eye on it, the other on the pot of soup I’m stirring. I squint to make it out without my reading glasses: two stacks of translucent plastic bins, five in all. “What am I looking at?” I text back. “Your stuff!” responds D, my ex-husband.

Mar 4, 2024 | laurafriedmanwilliams.medium.com | Laura Williams

Reflections on IdentityA Lesson from a Beach in BarbadosI watch from my lounge chair as a young girl enters the water, exploding into it. She is not tentative, as I always am, letting my feet acclimate to the cool wet sand, then edging forward so the waves cover just my toes, then ankles, then up to my knees. I wince with every lap of the water, even here in Barbados where the water is a translucent turquoise and just a tad chiller than lukewarm. But not this girl.

Feb 11, 2024 | laurafriedmanwilliams.medium.com | Laura Williams

Reflections on IdentityFinding Purpose in the Quiet Days without KidsThis is me, learning to feel complete: sitting in a hotel bar alone with a plate of french fries and a glass of Chardonnay. I am in my own city, a mere six blocks from the apartment I now call home. The hotel bar is filled with people just passing through; being amongst them makes me feel anonymous, like I have temporarily become dissociated from the city streets where I have lived and raised my kids for the past quarter century.