BoomerGirl Diary

There's a temptation to be smug. To proclaim the old saw that "great minds think alike."

But, in honesty, Helen Dennis and I don't exactly think alike.

Dennis' Los Angeles-based Project Renewment, described in her latest book with that title, is similar to WomanSage, the nonprofit organization for women in midlife I founded in Orange County, Calif. Similar - but not the same.

"You give women a university - many ways to rediscover themselves," she says. "We offer a retirement model for career women."

Indeed, that's the title of her newly published book: "Project Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career Women," by Bernice Bratter and Helen Dennis (Scribner, 2008).

WomanSage, by comparison, brings together about 200 women monthly for programs on everything from retirement options to traveling after 50. The organization (online at www.womansage.org) also has more than a dozen interest groups that concentrate on specific topics, from money matters to hiking.

But members of both groups share similar qualities.

"These are highly effective, successful women," Dennis says.

Dennis believes, and so do I, that this generation of women - highly educated, career-minded - is confused and unwilling to face retirement.

We are the first generation affected by the women's movement. Heck, some of us started the movement.

Our mothers and grandmothers were strong women who knew their place in life. We've been forging a new role without guidebooks to point the way.

"A lot of women 50 and older think, 'Maybe I'm different for feeling this way,' and we need to tell them they're not," Dennis says. "So many women are at the same point at this time. They are women who love their work, who love the struggle to grab for the brass ring, who do the work necessary to get ahead, and they are not willing to end this significant chapter in their lives."

"Project Renewment" is all about finding that renewal. In 38 short essays, the authors explore everything from "how do you define your passion" to "when is the last time you cleaned your clothing closet?"

Each chapter presents a life issue after 50 (from widowhood to finding a good place to volunteer), talks about how others have faced (and solved) the same challenges, and ends with specific "questions to ask yourself."

"The book can be used collectively - by a book club or a group of friends - or it can be used individually," Dennis says.

Dennis is a prime example of the women she hopes to reach.

A leader on issues of aging, employment and retirement, she's been involved in lecturing at the University of Southern California Andrus Center for 25 years and conducting research for national organizations.

She writes a weekly column for MediaGroup and enjoys theater, yoga and her grandchildren.

At 67, she's still reaching for life's brass ring.