Friends and Friendship

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Group Posts, Relationships | 7 Comments

Christie Healey reflects on true friendships and “china plate” mates.

Just as I started to think about this blog, an old friend from New York sent me a long email. Barbara is one of the most energetic women I have ever met. She has 13 grandchildren, plays tennis and golf and keeps well abreast of the political scene (her opening line was to congratulate me, as a Minnesotan, on the seating of our second senator after eight months of legal whining). I have not seen Barbara in over five years, but every six months or so we correspond. She comes from a nearly extinct breed, the letter writer, but now I see she has discovered email.

I have friendships of over 30 years and of less then three. All of them stroll into my mind at unexpected times and are in my most oft-visited memories.

What brought me together with my friends is still a little mysterious to me, sometimes there is an instant connection and sometimes it takes longer. Read more

Friend Request

Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Prudence Baird, Relationships, Technology | 21 Comments

Prudence Baird reflects on midlife connections in the age of social media.

I know why baby boomers are joining Facebook faster than Bernie Madoff’s victims are moving in with their adult children.

We’re not done yet. We’re not done dominating popular culture as defined by our presence in the media, including the “social media” like Facebook and MySpace.

We’re not done with—even though we’ve long exceeded—our 15 minutes of fame. Each. We’re not done prancing in the spotlight—even if for some of us, it’s our first time. Read more

Indelible

Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Melissa Howden, Relationships | 7 Comments

Studies show that people with pals lead longer, healthier and happier lives. For our group post this month, we’re each sharing thoughts on friendship.

Melissa Howden reflects on the enduring impressions left by friends, real or otherwise.

Cindy Atkins had a long blond ponytail that swung from side to side. Invariably the bow in her hair matched her dress. At six, Cindy Atkins was my first real best friend. During the course of our friendship, which lasted until about third grade, I spent hours trying to coax my curly frizzy hair into a ponytail like Cindy’s. In the bathtub I would lay my head in the water and swish my head back and forth to get the feeling of a swinging ponytail. For a time, while my hair was wet, my ponytail would be smooth and organized like Cindy’s, but then one by one, a frizzy curl would pop out of my tight ponytail, all my effort defeated by nature. Be it for our friendship or her ponytail I have never forgotten Cindy Atkins. Read more

Oh Daddy-O

Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts | 2 Comments

With Father’s Day this Sunday, we’re thinking about men. We hope you’ll enjoy reading or re-reading last year’s timeless Father’s Day posts.

Cathy writes about being the daughter of a hard-working immigrant, who now well into his eighties, keeps on keepin’ on with a joke repertoire powered by Mac. Connie gets real about how her handsome musician father took a powder in her youth. Melissa reflects on being a child going through divorce and coming out the other side. For young Prudence, her father was an impressive presence, but he had other priorities. Carine paints a picture of her colorful dad and their spirited relationship and Christie’s loving portrait of her son speaks to the responsibility of raising boys.

Read more about heartfelt and heartbreaking experiences with men both close and far >> (Scroll down the page to see all the posts.)

Change? Yes, Please.

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Group Posts, Rants | 9 Comments

Yes, thank you.  I would like some change.

I’d like to get some change back for all over payments to banks—aka credit card companies—that have for decades used the flimsiest excuses to raise seductive introductory interest rates to loan shark levels that can never be repaid if you’re an average Jane.  Something tells me they’re about to get their comeuppance in much grander terms than mere coins…

I would also like some change from overpriced restaurants that do offer the pleasure of a night out without having to wash dishes, but can in no way justify charging $15.00 for a hamburger plus $6.50 for valet parking.  Trust me, I don’t often patronize these joints, but when you live in Los Angeles, it’s a safe bet you’ll end up in one without realizing how you got there.  And while I’m on the subject, Read more

Something’s Gotta Change!

Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Melissa Howden, Politics | 12 Comments

Did you hear the one about the Justice Department attorney Leslie Hagen who was not re-hired in her position because she was rumored to be a lesbian?

Under the ever-so-questionable leadership of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, it seems his senior counsel, Monica Goodling, took it upon herself, after hearing the rumor of lesbianism, to remove Ms. Hagen from her position. This action was taken despite the fact that Ms. Hagen had consistently performed at the highest levels with the notation “Outstanding” on every category of her performance review.

“The problem it was suggested during the conversation was sexual orientation or what was rumored to be Hagen’s sexual orientation.” —Ari Shapiro, NPR

Whatever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”—in the U.S. Justice Department no less! Or how about this, being gay is not a crime. Read more

Baby got Back!

Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Humor, Prudence Baird | 15 Comments

After almost two decades of being so thin that I could pull my size 4 pants down to my ankles without unzipping the fly, I finally have some junk in my trunk.

Believe it or not, that’s change I can live with.

For years, I’ve felt like the oddball when girlfriends discussed the inevitable weight gain that seems to come with age. I pretended to by sympathetic, cocking my head, clucking at all the right moments. Not that I was unsympathetic, but while they were worried about morphing into Mama Cass, my fear was I was withering into Margaret Hamilton, whose bony wrists I found almost as frightening as the Flying Monkeys she commanded.

And sympathy is only a one-way street when it comes to weight. I learned this the hard way when a girlfriend once snapped at me, “What would you know about it? You’re probably always thinking, ‘At least I’m the thinnest person in the room.’”

Not really. I’m usually thinking, “I’m the most wrinkled woman in the room.” Read more

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