Volunteering helped me feel something I hadn’t felt in a long time—the purely selfish pleasure of making a small difference
“I didn’t think turning 50 this summer would be such a big deal. To be honest, I didn’t really feel like 50 applied to me. My 50 would be another woman’s 35.
“But a week after my birthday, I fell into a bona fide funk. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on the reason why. It was everything and nothing.
“I didn’t like the look of my face anymore, and my life as a wife and mother of a tween and a teen seemed more routine than ever. Whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not, my midlife crisis—complete with its search for meaning—was right on time.
“Then something kind of crazy happened. A friend asked me if I’d be willing to volunteer with her in Syrian refugee camps on the island of Lesvos in Greece.”
