Wednesday Club

Today's blog is dedicated to Marie, Lisa, Rhiannon, and Tiffanie, the other members in my Wednesday Club. I highly recommend that all my readers consider forming their own Wednesday Clubs, both male and female.

Some years back, my friend Marie helped me out a great deal by driving me to doctor's appointments. They were usually on Wednesdays, and we got into the habit of going for lunch either before or after, depending on the appointment time. So in our friend language, we started to call it Wednesday Club. Instead of, "Do you have an appointment next week?" it was usually, "Are we having Wednesday Club this week? It actually became well known among her family, and there were those who really wished they could ditch school and join in. Yes, I am talking about you, Rhiannon!

Life has a way of going on and changing. The appointments became less frequent, and Trent was able to take me to most of them. Wednesday Club became a fond memory of the times Marie and I were able to spend together and forge our deep friendship. Since the time that the Club was in full swing, Marie has gained two daughters-in-law, Lisa and Tiffanie, and a son-in-law, Kevin. None of them live very close, but they get together when they are able to travel. But when you have people living in the mountains of Colorado, on the coast in Oregon, and in Idaho, people just can't get together all at the same time very often.

And then, of all things, fate and Facebook dealt us an interesting hand. On a Wednesday, of all days, Marie, Rhiannon, Tiffanie and I were all online at the same time. We began a chat that lasted at least a couple of hours. It was fabulous! We had an almost-reunion! It was great to be able to just hang out and be women together. We covered all sorts of subjects. There was no arguing. There were no power plays. Nobody cared what anyone else looked like. We were able to have the kind of chats that we couldn't have had with our husbands there, because our husbands would probably have been bored to death. We decided then and there that if possible, this needed to be a regular thing. And, by the way, our husbands are supporting this one hundred percent.

It took a few tries before all of us were able to be there at once, and we know that we won't always have everyone there. In fact, I used the lame excuse two weeks ago that I would not chat because I was tired from spending the day at the hospital for Trent's transplant. I took a little teasing over it, but they still love me. Can you imagine how liberating it is to get a group of women together from different generations and experiences and have an exchange where nobody is shut out, everyone can say what is on their mind, and nobody gives attitude about it? I call it Switzerland, because we will remain neutral...no woman wars welcome here. But chocolate and watches are another story entirely!

Some people might think, "Big deal, a bunch of hens having a hen party." But it is so much more than that. Marie is the Mom, and I have sort of been adopted as an Aunt. But we won't be around forever, and if you can't rely on your family, life can be pretty tough. By having these regular chats, we are getting to know each other on a deeper level. And the women who will become the core of the family are forging their own family relationship, one Wednesday Club at a time.