Adult slumber parties, plus GRAND Social No. 147 link party for grandparents

/

Adult slumber parties

I hope your weekend was fabulous! Mine was, thanks to a slumber party I attended Saturday night. A slumber party at a mountain lodge with lovely women with whom I've been friends for more than 35 years yet I hadn't seen all but one of them in more than a decade.

We started with lunch at a yummy Mexican food spot then headed on over to the lodge. We talked and laughed and cried and reminisced and drank lots of wine until late, late, late. Then we got up Sunday morning and started all over again—with coffee instead of wine, of course.

high school friends 

It was a truly...

Read More

Saturday movie PREview—and giveaway: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

/

The last time my husband and I went to see a movie at the theater, we did as we always do: Jim headed off for the popcorn while I made my way to the theater to nab our seats. As I sought out the correct theater, a middle-aged couple walked just ahead of me. Suddenly the woman stopped in her tracks as her hubby kept walking. The woman was mesmerized by the movie poster in the hallway.

As I got closer, I realized what had caught her eye... and I joined her in front of the colorful, oversized promotion for THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.

second best exotic marigold hotel

"I can't wait to see this! Did you see the first one?" she asked in dreamy tone.

"Oh, yeah," I said in an equally smooth voice as we...

Read More

Musing elsewhere: When a teen mom hits midlife

/

In the summer of 1982, I graduated from high school, got married, turned 18, and had a baby. I went from kid to wife and mother in the span of three months, just like that.

teen mom and baby

My husband was 21 at the time. Now, 33 years later, we're empty-nesters. We've patted ourselves on the back for a job well done. We beat the odds and raised three lovely and amazing daughters from diapers to dorm rooms and into the real world. Our journey featured little outside the typical bumps, bruises and pains of parenthood, despite the fact that we were mere children ourselves at the outset. Our girls are grown and gone—one has even made us grandparents.

Time to rejoice! Time to enjoy midlife!

Time for an unexpected reality check, is more like it.

Once my kids split and I recovered from the initial empty-nest jitters, it became clear that having been a teen mother would...Click here to continue reading my article published on PurpleClover.com.

purple clover