Welcome to
Strength Between the Lines
Power in the Third Chapter
A community for women rewriting the rules of aging and living boldly, authentically, and unapologetically.
We age, we rise, we begin again.
Every woman carries fire. Here, we rise together.
About This Blog
Here, life experience is celebrated, and age is honored as so much more than your number of years.
Age is growth.
It’s wisdom, self-awareness, and the strength to pause before reacting to life’s eruptions. It’s knowing what you can and cannot control — and learning to let go of the things you can’t.
Age is power.
Strength Between the Lines is a space for women in their Third Chapter — the one no one warned us about, but one we get to reimagine and write our own way through. 🤍 Read a little more about this blog here. 🙂
I’m Tammy, and this blog was born from a lifetime of love, heartache, hope, a hell of a lot of grief, and pure tenacity. I’m 57, with skin and scars that tell stories and a heart that still dreams. Want to know more? My journey continues in “Walking Toward Myself: A Midlife Fitness Story”.
Categories
Fitness & Health
Fitness after 50 isn’t about extremes. It’s about consistency, balance, and building strength in everyday choices.
Explore stories, guides, and insights in: Fitness & Health
Walking Toward Myself: A Midlife Fitness Story
A journey of resilience, fitness, strength, and reclaiming joy in midlife — one step at a time.
Fitness After 50: From Steps to Strength – Strength Between the Lines
We should feel powerful at any age! If you’re over 50, discover how to build strength and confidence without fear. Learn how I started lifting and how you can find your inner power to live strong inside and out.
Rise & Reclaim
A welcoming space to celebrate victories big and small, rebuild confidence, and embrace the beauty of aging boldly. Rise & Reclaim is about rediscovering joy, honoring our femininity, and living as radiant works of art — years in the making.
Celebrate victories, reclaim joy, and embrace the beauty of aging boldly in: Rise & Reclaim
Stubbornly Determined: Finding Myself in the Aftermath.
When the foundations of your life are destroyed, you are forced to discover a strength you never knew you had. After losing my husband of 25 years, I had to let go of our home, our tools, and our life together almost overnight. If you are currently standing in the center of your own tornado, know this: you are not alone, and you can step into your own power. Here is how I learned to say, “I’ve got this.”
My ACDF Surgery Journey
The moment my body stopped whispering and demanded to be heard — the beginning of a journey I never expected to take.
The day I stopped pretending I was fine became the start of: My ACDF Surgery Journey
My ACDF Surgery Journey – Part 1
The day everything changed wasn’t the surgery — it was the moment I finally stopped pretending nothing was wrong.
The Weight of Stillness
A mirror meltdown, lost muscle, and a titanium promise. Today, I’m being vulnerable about the mental side of recovery and why a broken body is still a sanctuary under repair.
Grief’s Corner
Thoughts of a Bereaved Mom
Here, you’ll find a raw chronicle of survival, remembrance, and the ongoing voyage to live beyond loss.
If you’ve lost a child, take my hand and know you are not alone on this path: Grief’s Corner
A Letter to the Newly Bereaved Mother
From a mom traveling this journey ahead of you. In the rawest days of grief, even breathing feels impossible. I’ve been there and I’m sending you much love, strength, and a reminder that you are not alone.
Time, Dreams and Broken Stitches
A mother’s reflection on the day her world shattered, the promise that carried her forward, and the fragile rebuilding that begins again each time grief breaks open.
Mom
There are moments that shatter a mother at the cellular level. This piece captures the instant I learned of my son Larry’s death — not through words, but in the devastation written across his father’s face. It is the closest I can come to describing a grief that exists beyond language, beyond breath, beyond what a human heart is built to bear.
The Velvet Pixel Studio
A place where pixels pulse with emotion and every stroke, word, and color leads someone back to themselves.
Discover original art by women living powerfully in the third chapter: Velvet Pixel Studio
Older posts remain here, a library shelf of stories waiting to be revisited and remembered:
- The Weight of StillnessA Note from the Author: I am currently three weeks post-op and preparing to head back to work full-time on Monday. However, I recently found this entry I wrote just five days after my surgery. I’ve decided to share it now, raw and…
- My ACDF Surgery Journey – Part 1The day everything changed wasn’t the surgery — it was the moment I finally stopped pretending nothing was wrong.
- MomThere are moments that shatter a mother at the cellular level. This piece captures the instant I learned of my son Larry’s death — not through words, but in the devastation written across his father’s face. It is the closest I can come to describing a grief that exists beyond language, beyond breath, beyond what a human heart is built to bear.
- Stubbornly Determined: Finding Myself in the Aftermath.When the foundations of your life are destroyed, you are forced to discover a strength you never knew you had. After losing my husband of 25 years, I had to let go of our home, our tools, and our life together almost overnight. If you are currently standing in the center of your own tornado, know this: you are not alone, and you can step into your own power. Here is how I learned to say, “I’ve got this.”
- Fitness After 50: From Steps to StrengthWe should feel powerful at any age! If you’re over 50, discover how to build strength and confidence without fear. Learn how I started lifting and how you can find your inner power to live strong inside and out.
- Time, Dreams and Broken StitchesWritten 07/10/2016 My firstborn of two sons died nine years ago. It was the day after Easter Sunday and the month prior to his 18th birthday. Without warning and within moments our lives were unequivocally altered. We were pummeled to our knees, bloodied…
- A Letter to the Newly Bereaved MotherFrom one grieving mother’s heart to another,I’m sending you love and so much strength…There are no rules for grieving and time becomes insignificantin so many ways now. I’m not going to lie to you.It will never be okay. It will never become easy.And…
- Walking Toward Myself: A Midlife Fitness StoryAt fifty, I didn’t start in a gym or on a trail. I started on a sidewalk — small steps, taken consistently, that carried me through grief and exhaustion toward strength and energy.