Maybe I'm just too old for the month of May. Nonsense you say . . . I don't know, others feel the same way I am sure. Too many activities piled on to the calendar that was already full with normal, repeating monthly items. Recitals, exams, dentist appointments, graduations, graduation gifts, birthdays, birthday gifts . . . you just can't stay ahead of the eight-ball in the month of May.
One special note though: the month of May belongs to Charlotte. Yep, She turned, (whisper please) 51 this month. Seems a bit anticlimactic after the escapades of last year. In May of 2011, we were planning the big "50-year-old-celebration-trip." Remember, one of us, the baby, was about to turn 49, so we gave her a pass. (Our rule clearly states that you must be within 12 months of turning 50 to be eligible to join Group Therapy.) At the time of our trip last July, which was when the club was created, Samantha was within the 12 month window, barely. She will turn 50 in July and we can't wait! Of course, she and Carrie will only be fifty at the same time for a little over a month, but that's not what matters. The fact that we are all headed into the next half of our century together is what matters. Knowing someone for the better part of your life (forty plus years) is staggering. I still remember the first time I saw both of these girls. Amazing!
Last year, Charlotte's children both graduated from college. And this year her daughter graduated from graduate school. This year, Samantha's oldest son graduates from high school. As a matter of fact, tomorrow is the big day for him, or them. Sure, it's a big accomplishment for the child, or should I say, young adult. But the parents are the folks that should get the real credit! What an accomplishment: to bring a life into this world, feed it, clothe it, nurture and protect it, teach it to survive, love it unconditionally (even through the terrible twos and threes or the dreadful teenage years) and then just let it go . . . can anything be any harder than that? I'm not quite there, but certainly bracing myself already.
Speaking of the dreadful teenage years, I have a book recommendation: I've Had It Up To Here With Teenagers, by Melinda Rainey Thompson. She isn't quite old enough for Group Therapy but will be welcomed with open arms once she is. Melinda's perspective is hysterical and as you read you find yourself shaking your head up and down with unconscious agreement or laughing out loud. Here's a link to Amazon. (It's a quick, fun read for anyone in the midst of teenagers, about to be in the throws of teenager-dom or have happily survived those icky years and want to revel in all that was and is no more.)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=i%27ve+had+it+up+to+here+with+teenagers&sprefix=I%27ve+had%2Cstripbooks%2C210
So what's left? Only 5 more days then SUMMERTIME! Look for some new Group Therapy adventures soon.
To be continued . . .
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