Family
My Family is going to drive me bonkers. Today Mama is having surgery.
She lives in Florida and I live in Texas. She didn't want me to be there. She
says she doesn't have room and she doesn't want me to have to drive such a long
way. I drive it about four times each year. Or I could fly. And there are
hotels nearby. I'm frustrated because she's been cagey when I've questioned her
about her health. Daddy denied being sick. And then he died last August. He had
just turned 80 a couple of months before. She'll be 80 in a couple of
months. The rest of the Family is not
speaking to me because we had a fight after Daddy died. As a family we've never been super close, but we've always stuck
together. This new level of dysfunction sucks, especially since I’ve been
calling the hospital numbers that Mama gave me and every time the line has been
busy. And she’s my texts. She keeps telling me not to worry. But this is exactly the type of situation that makes
me bonkers with worry.
Friends
My two largest groups of Friends are School Chums and Church Ladies.
The School Chums are further broken down into two groups: High School and
College. I'm the youngest of my HS Chums.
I started school a year early and my birthday falls in late November so
I was younger than almost everyone in my class. I had a couple of friends in
the class after, but most were in the class ahead of me. I've always been a tad
bit more serious than my peers. Some might call me an "old
soul." I don't think I am—I'm just
responsible and a product of being the eldest child even if I am the youngest
socially. However, I am the Old Lady in my College Chum group. I didn't know
what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I didn't finish College until I was
thirty (I worked several menial jobs in the ensuing years between HS and
College). So when my College Chums were starting college, I was missing (aka
refusing to attend) my 10 Year Reunion.
At 55, I'm the Baby in my Church Lady group. Most of us play Spades or
Liverpool Rummy once a week. We call ourselves the “Spadettes.” We also get
together for lunch or movies and the occasional theater production, and have
gone on a couple of trips. The location of the game changes from week to week.
But the reception by the husbands that are left is usually the same: a warm greeting, maybe a quick bite of
dinner, followed by a retreat into their man cave or man activity. Sometimes
they resurface as we adjourn. Sometimes they don't. As our ranks of Widowhood
have increased, the hubbies have been replaced by handymen or other family
members. A few of the Spadettes are also in the same Bunko group that I like to
think of as the “Belton Bunko Babes.”
Facebook
For all the ranting I do about Zucker-boy and his power-hungry grab for
the title of Internet Emperor, in which he attempts to tell us that he knows
what's technologically best for us, I am grateful for the ability to reconnect
with Friends from years past. It’s
funny, but I will frequently have to stop and look at the friends of a contact
so I can determine what era I know someone from. It probably doesn’t help that
Daddy was in the Air Force and we moved every couple of years.
Finding the Rainbow
Finding the Rainbow (Chilton Crosse Book 2), by Traci Borum's
is one of my current reads. Traci is a
friend and I shamelessly plug her novels every chance I get. She writes cozy
Women's Fiction without gratuitous sex or violence. Her novels are set in the
Cotswold of England and they have a wonderful cozy feeling to them. Her first
novel, Painting the Moon had a little family mystery in it as well;
however, is not a cozy mystery per se. The Chilton Crosse novels are more about
second chances. Everyone needs a second
chance from time to time. It’s nice when we actually get one. Book 3 in the
series is Christmas themed and will be released later this year and Book 4 is
in the works as well. 
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