By Kathleen Guthrie Woods
Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 11, 2012—the first-ever LWB Meet-Up!
We’ve bandied this about for a while and now it’s going to happen! The San Francisco Group members (look under “Groups” on the Main page of the LifeWithoutBaby site) are going to meet in San Francisco for a casual lunch, a get-to-know-you gathering. If you live in Northern California, sign on with our group and come join us.
This isn’t just for gals in my neighborhood. If you haven’t already, join one of the other regional groups and suggest a meeting place. If your area isn’t represented, start a group (under the Groups column, there’s a place to “+ Add a Group”). If none of this is practical for you, then call or e-mail a childfree friend and ask her out for lunch. You don’t have to tell her what inspired the invitation; think of it as a worthy excuse to catch up with a good friend. (And if it’s just you, then take yourself out for a really nice lunch and we’ll be with you in spirit!)
In my mind, this isn’t a time to get together to bitch about being childless (feel free to do that on tomorrow’s Whiny Wednesday) or to pull out our hankies and share our sorrowful tales (feel free to do that any and every day on LWB, a safe place where you can pour your heart out to a compassionate and sympathetic community). Let’s focus on the positive, break bread together, and simply enjoy being in the company of other great women…who happen to be childfree…just like me.
Kathleen Guthrie Woods is a Northern California–based freelance writer. She loves discussing books and movies, and gathering suggestions for “must-sees” for her upcoming trip to France.
How I wish I lived in the USA!!!
Dear girls…. enjoy your lunch.
I so wish I could go !
What a timely post, I just got back from lunch with a childfree girlfriend (in Texas, by the way). She’s 46 and I’m 36, and we didn’t fuss or gripe about not having kids, but we did talk about all the good things about it – how great it is to sleep late, go out, not be worried to death about the kids all the time, and how fun it is to hang out with the nieces and nephews and then send them home 🙂 Oh, and we look younger than our peers WITH children! We didn’t gloat about that At All ;-P
Love it!
I love “Whiny Wednesday”, but it would be great to also have a “Fabulous Friday” (Or whatever)–where we can list all of the positive things we do or want to do! We could give each other hope and support.
Look at some of the past posts. Many (most?) are encouraging, supportive, and offer suggestions for moving forward in life. The series on the “cheroes” (childfree women who changed the world) will inspire you with all their adventures, achievements and contributions — things they might not have done if they were home with kids. Also consider joining in the conversations or groups on the home page of the main Life Without Baby site. There is a strong spirit of generosity in the LWB community, and I think you’ll find much hope and support here.
Speaking of inspiration, I’m just finishing the new Myrna Loy biography I received for Christmas–what a fantastic woman! I’ve always loved her films, but I never knew how politically active she was in the ’40s and ’50s–even into the ’60’s. She turned her childfree not by choice life into something spectacular.
Rerah,
Love the Fabulous Friday idea. I will throw one in once in a while.
Would you consider doing a short Guest Blogger post about Myrna Loy? It would be great to include her here. Contact me if you’re up for it. 🙂 http://lifewithoutbaby.wordpress.com/writers_guidelines/
I’m jealous you can all meet up. If it became a regular thing, would be worth me visiting the US! I also love the idea of a Fabulous Friday.
And I see you’re gathering suggestions for France. Feel free to email me – I I love travel, and love sharing my favourite places (used to have a small travel planning business) – or visit my Travelalphablog, and search the France tags (in the cloud on the blog’s sidebar). My gravatar here will link to it.
Have a wonderful visit! Please let us know how it all turned out.
Rerah, I agree with you that we need a day to ponder our many blessings!
Maybe some day we’ll have a whole LWB meet-up, and it will definitely be on a Fabulous Friday! Hope you’ll consider making Feb 11 a Be Nice to Yourself Day. xxoo
We’ve talked before about having a Life Without Baby Conference. Maybe it’s time to bat the idea around again…