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My friend, who is not at all connected to the internet except for email, (her children are in IT careers, and have told her not to have online presence). This is the the dilemma...
My friend is one of 6 women from a small midwestern college. These women have gotten together every few years since the 1960s.
My friend taught school for a few years, but then got married and had 3 children. She has many talents, but has never worked since.
Every other one of the women in the group have had stellar careers...we are talking Yale professors, authors, and very highly paid women in their equally impressive careers. My friend feels inferior, but that’s another subject.
A reunion is coming up. Everyone in the group is turning 81 this year. My friend has nothing in common with the group, except for history. The most pressing worry she has is that she is a conservative republican and there is only one other in the group who shares her politics. One woman has unknown politics and the others are west coast liberals. She is reluctant to go. She has physical limitations, which she could use as an excuse, but at that age, this might well be the last time they are all together.
I have given her my opinion, but if she were your friend, what would you tell her?
I'd tell her to "GO!" Sooner or later, there comes a time when people sit down and discover that it doesn't matter if you're blue or red. What matters is that you share a long history of being "in a group."
My mom went thru this with people she went to grade school with. There were 5 or 6 of 'em. Slowly but surely, they began to die off (I think the first one died back in the 1940's.) But the rest of them remained friends until they all died. My mom was the last surviving one of the group. But, she had her "bestie" for almost 90 years...
Having friends to share your life with has got to be pretty special. They'd meet about every decade or two. Spouses/children/marriages & divorces, they all got to experience each other's lives. And that's pretty cool.
My friend, who is not at all connected to the internet except for email, (her children are in IT careers, and have told her not to have online presence). This is the the dilemma...
My friend is one of 6 women from a small midwestern college. These women have gotten together every few years since the 1960s.
My friend taught school for a few years, but then got married and had 3 children. She has many talents, but has never worked since.
Every other one of the women in the group have had stellar careers...we are talking Yale professors, authors, and very highly paid women in their equally impressive careers. My friend feels inferior, but that’s another subject.
A reunion is coming up. Everyone in the group is turning 81 this year. My friend has nothing in common with the group, except for history. The most pressing worry she has is that she is a conservative republican and there is only one other in the group who shares her politics. One woman has unknown politics and the others are west coast liberals. She is reluctant to go. She has physical limitations, which she could use as an excuse, but at that age, this might well be the last time they are all together.
I have given her my opinion, but if she were your friend, what would you tell her?
Probably that she shouldn't ask a friend like me that question.....for that is a lot like I am.
My TAMU Corps of Cadets unit has been having reunions for the past number of years and I have skipped everyone. I have no wish to go back to a time where so many people were playing ridiculous games when I was trying to get through college and on with my life. I do not want to be around those who say, "Remember when.......".
Now maybe those in that world or even the OP here can't understand what it is to be outside that world......but we do exist. So please, stop, for you are torturing us by trying to make us enjoy a world that we are not part of.
Probably that she shouldn't ask a friend like me that question.....for that is a lot like I am.
My TAMU Corps of Cadets unit has been having reunions for the past number of years and I have skipped everyone. I have no wish to go back to a time where so many people were playing ridiculous games when I was trying to get through college and on with my life. I do not want to be around those who say, "Remember when.......".
Now maybe those in that world or even the OP here can't understand what it is to be outside that world......but we do exist. So please, stop, for you are torturing us by trying to make us enjoy a world that we are not part of.
The participants are SIX women who are 81, have stayed in touch and went to college together at a time when it was not mainstream for women. this is not outside her world. Some folks have lifelong contacts and friends.
The participants are SIX women who are 81, have stayed in touch and went to college together at a time when it was not mainstream for women. this is not outside her world. Some folks have lifelong contacts and friends.
At 81 she's lucky to have 6 friends who are still alive. My Grandfather kept up with his college friends all his life. He had 1 left when he died. Why not go. She can change the subject if politics comes up.
My friend, who is not at all connected to the internet except for email, (her children are in IT careers, and have told her not to have online presence). This is the the dilemma...
My friend is one of 6 women from a small midwestern college. These women have gotten together every few years since the 1960s.
My friend taught school for a few years, but then got married and had 3 children. She has many talents, but has never worked since.
Every other one of the women in the group have had stellar careers...we are talking Yale professors, authors, and very highly paid women in their equally impressive careers. My friend feels inferior, but that’s another subject.
A reunion is coming up. Everyone in the group is turning 81 this year. My friend has nothing in common with the group, except for history. The most pressing worry she has is that she is a conservative republican and there is only one other in the group who shares her politics. One woman has unknown politics and the others are west coast liberals. She is reluctant to go. She has physical limitations, which she could use as an excuse, but at that age, this might well be the last time they are all together.
I have given her my opinion, but if she were your friend, what would you tell her?
You wrote that sentence as if there is a vast majority/minority split. Among the six women, there are three liberal democrats, two conservative republicans, and one who could be either or just be apolitical. It's not as if she'd be the lone conservative voice in a sea of liberals. It could be evenly divided 3-3 or at worst 4-2. And this is her most pressing issue?
You wrote that sentence as if there is a vast majority/minority split. Among the six women, there are three liberal democrats, two conservative republicans, and one who could be either or just be apolitical. It's not as if she'd be the lone conservative voice in a sea of liberals. It could be evenly divided 3-3 or at worst 4-2. And this is her most pressing issue?
I don't see the problem.
It could be. I have a friend who I don't ask to give me rides to the doctor's office because I don't want to be subjected to their anti vax right wingism in a closed environment.
Equally, like I said above, I don't go to my Corps of Cadets reunions because there are still those there not only playing those games, but believing and spouting the religion of the Aggie Corps world.....to say nothing of me being a belly dancer now.
If you don't like hearing about that world, whichever world it may be, in its idealism, why be in it?
I would tell her to flip a coin to decide.
When she flips it and sees the result she will either be happy with the answer or sad.
That will tell her what her true feeling is about going.
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