Empty Nesters

Actually, I can't let this day go by without talking a little bit about a group of women from our church who get together at someone's house once a month to present our culinary skills for lunch, and sit together and eat and talk. The only requirement is that you do not bring children. Sometimes we have as few as 8 and sometimes as many as 20. We enjoy each other's company immensely, and tell stories about happenings in our lives. Some of the more seasoned members initiate the others into the life of hauling water, and having outdoor plumbing. We have yet to run out of topics. No gossip allowed, but we do have a good time, and go home convinced that the calorie gremlins who live in our closets and eat away at our clothes so that they no longer fit so well will be hard at work tonight. This get-together does require that the hostess for the month has to move a bit of furniture (or get her husband to help), and find enough chairs for all to have a seat, but the effort is worth the reward. We find that meeting together on Sunday does not give us a chance to really get to know each other better, and we find we are becoming a very close-knit group of women who can support each other through thick and thin. We've seen some through cancer, through MS, through broken bones, through surgeries, and on and on. The support system gets stronger for the association.