Paging Helen Reddy...

I don't know about you, but I truly get a little jump start on the mornings I have a horoscope like this one: 

Today's Aquarius Horoscope:
Jul 01, 2009

A new opportunity could come your way today, dear Aquarius. There is no promise or guarantee, but an indication that if you devote yourself thoroughly, your chances of progress are pretty good over the next month on any activity begun today. Keep up the good work, and keep smiling at everyone! Don't forget that the latter action is as important as the first!

get yours

After reading through many horoscopes until I find a suitable one, I generally pop over to Tina Brown's The Daily Beast.  I highly recommend it if you have the time.  Today, there is a wonderful piece about the power and abilities of empty nest women by Mimi Swartz.  Here is an excerpt:

On the other hand, two or more decades of juggling have made these women very effective leaders, more focused and strategic with their time, according to Jarrett. “When you are forced to balance competing interests, you are forced to be vigilant about your day. Those habits stay with you,” she says. Her years of child rearing, she believes, have also made her more patient, a more tolerant listener and much better at reading body language. (Sometimes, after all, a pouting subordinate isn’t so different from a pouting 3-year-old.) She says she’s also more likely to let a staff member out of a meeting for a child’s soccer game, because she’s been there.

The empty nesters “tend to have skills that men their age don’t have,” says Ann Stock, former chief of protocol during the Clinton administration, and herself an empty nester. Above all, these women are grateful that they sacrificed neither home nor careers to get where they are today.

“When I was younger, I never could have appreciated this stage of life,” says Jarrett, referring to the power and freedom she’s enjoying in middle age. She likes to paraphrase the old feminist saw about how Ginger Rogers could do everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards in high heels. “We were used to dancing backwards and now we can dance forward,” she says. “Imagine how productive we can be.”

I love it!  And I wonder if I can put this on my resume... Going to go make it great a day now.  I hope you do too. And try to hum a little "I am Woman" while you're at it.