You are not too old!!

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, I will be 85 years old. I have just had my third book published by Legacy Book Press, A Woman's Voice Should Be Heard: My Journey from the Convent to the Battle for Women's Equality. What a joy it is to have one's writing validated by a traditional publisher at any age! If I didn't pursue this goal to seek a publisher and pursue the process, it wouldn't have happened.

The truth is there should be no limits we put on ourselves, Harvey Goldstein honors his age by pursuing his dream of painting portraits. He has painted over 100 portraits including 20 USA Presidents in black and white. Karen Adamik gathers 70 senior singers and produces choral concerts twice a year for audiences of hundreds of folks. Stacia Armstrong began painting at 70 and now has a painting in the office of an Executive Vice-President at a major studio in California. Dr, Ray Fay, a retired pediatric urologist, writes poetry. He has pursued the craft by taking courses both in person and online. He has taken his poetry and combined with his music, he has completed a Chinese musical. My husband, Robert DeLaurenti has pursued his photography in retirement and has had his photos in over 35 magazines and on many covers. Bob Puglisi has written four novels and recently with his wife, Anita published the memoir, Our Hollywood Tales. these seniors believe they are in the prime of their life.

So what about you my senior reader? What are you doing to demonstrate that your life can be enriched by fulfilling your dreams? Are you interested in photography? in painting? in poetry? in music? Perhaps you have been thinking of writing your memoir for your family history. When we write our memoirs, we are gifting present and future generations with information that will benefit them. Our history is part of the genes they inherited, the culture they were raised in. When we engage ourselves with a project that enriches our lives, we will be happier in retirement, and as we age. For some of us, we thought beginning a new career, or a new opportunity at the age of 50 was impossible. Thousands of people with years on their lives have begun much later. You can too. You are worth it.

If you have found a life engagement in your retirement years, please write and tell me at info@aggiejordan.com. I'd love to hear your story.

My first foreign sale of A Woman's Voice Should Be Heard

This was an exciting morning. I sold a Kindle book to a young woman from India. Having computer trouble drove me to Geek Squad. Well, I thought it was Geek Squad. After letting the agent into my computer, "allowing him to fix the problem", he inserted a virus, removed my security, and tried to sell me the fix for $399. Don't do it, folks. Don't Google someone and take the first similar company from whom you are seeking help as I did. I'm a strong believer in Divine Providence. You might call it luck, or sudden wisdom, but I didn't bite. Then I got the most wonderful young woman from India who did delete the virus and fixed the original problem. As we waited for technology to do its very slow processing, we started a conversation about the new publication of my book. She clicks on Amazon, downloads the book, and I got my first foreign sale and my first sale to a woman under 25. It is my goal to try to alert young women to the importance of being heard. First, by learning what succeeded in the past, and second, by examining their own challenges and opportunities. Thank you, Satya for solving my computer problem and being my first foreign sale. I wish you a good read.

What is Your Real Name?

As I began recently to write a memoir about my life’s journey, my thoughts turned to how many times a woman changes her name. I’ve had a moniker for each stage of my life. Most of us start out in this world with two names as did I: Aggie, my nickname that my family called me from birth; and a baptismal designate, Mary Agnes Jordan. The latter is still the handle on my driver’s license, tax returns, social security account, and bank statements. Well, not quite – the credit cards drop the middle name.

I also had a confirmation name, Christina, which I have never used. Then I joined the convent and I got a nun’s title, Sister M. Clara. I was no longer a person with a family. Officially I was just a nun with no past.

In the late 1960s, my convent named changed back to my family name for a short time but with Sister still preceding it. When I left the convent, I dropped the Sister. By the way, all these arenames on various official documents. No aliases. Or were they?

Then in 1974, I married Robert DeLaurenti and, like many women, I wondered: should I change my name to my husband’s name? I had not made up my mind, but the company I was working for in Orlando changed it for me. I soon got a paycheck with DeLaurenti. They even sent in a change to the Feds, so soon I had a social security card with that name on it, too. I was not happy. I wanted my name back, so I filled out all that paperwork to tell the Feds that it was all a big mistake. Done. I was back to my original name.

Shortly after we moved to Texas and I started my training company, I hired a lawyer who decided we should name the company Jordan-DeLaurenti, Inc. And further, I should hyphenate my name. Hyphenation was the thing then in the late 70s, so I went along with it. Eventually even the company took on a nickname, or a logo name, J-DL, Inc.

For 21 years, I wrote a name with 26 strokes, Mary Agnes Jordan-DeLaurenti. Imagine signing that on checks! Of course, when I sold my company I dissed that epithet and officially took back my birth name.

It didn’t take long, though, before I had another name, a nom de plume. Broadway Books made it official, They put Aggie Jordan, Ph.D. on the cover of The Marriage Plan. I’m not even sure it’s legitimate to tag Ph.D. to a nickname, but they did it.

So how many names have you had officially? If you are a male, probably one, or maybe two, unless you’re in the witness protection program. But if you’re female and have married more than once, you definitely have a line of tags.

I wonder if the FBI has an accounting of all my various names with change dates? I know the IRS seems to be able to find me. When I was a protesting nun during the Vietnam War and a graduate student, I refused to pay the Federal phone tax because it was set up to fund the Vietnam War. The IRS did eventually catch up with me.

One good thing about having a number of names is, when I get those marketing calls that ask, “Is Mary there?”, I truthfully just say, “Sorry. Nobody here by that name.” If they don’t ask for Aggie, I don’t want to talk to them.

Contact the author at aggiejordan@gmail.com.