Ladies Who Lunch

Love it . 45 years ago we were encouraged to start a mother and toddler group as there was nothing in our area. We were the “committee” and we remain close friends to this day through all the ups and downs . It’s nice to know they will always be there for me . Sadly one of them had an affair with my ex/husband but the others supported me through a difficult divorce . She was the loser and she gained a grumpy old man but lost a fabulous group of friends !

Thankyou for that - love it!

@RosieandherMaw Whoop whoop whoop! Fabulous poem. Keep it up, write more, publish! Will look out for you Kathy O’Malley

Love it! How true. Let's keep having lunch!

Brilliant! Love it

A coffee with my peers the other day, conversations were about pills, and we agreed that weddings, babies, school issues, teens, and more weddings had gone by the board and grandchildren, health and holidays are more often

My "ladies who lunch" are all pushing 80.

We 've been a gang since the 1970's when I started a Babysitting Circle. We're still collectively called "The babysitters".

There was no Mumsnet so BITGOD we had to make up our own theories of how to raise children. Now we can see the results of our diverse and hotly argued parenting methods.

Remarkably, our babies did eventually get toilet trained, learnt to read, went out into the world and made friends, mistakes, money, messes, more babies...... all thanks to our collective efforts.

We still tell each other how to do everything, so at last we've all got the hang of how to be a woman. It took a while.

If anything else goes wrong (again) we'll just construct a whole new woman from our spare parts and implants.

GoodAfternoonTea

It is so heart warming to read not only the poem, but also the responses. Sadly, when I became my parents' carer I was swiftly dumped by friends of 40 years and more to whom I had been loyal and supportive. Looking through old photos yesterday, I had given too much of myself and realised that they were only ever social friends, not friends for darker days. I still try to be empathic but do not make close friendships anymore and that is how it will stay.

Friends are friends even if just for social occasions. At our age somebody else’s darker days might feel worryingly close to home so shying away doesn’t necessarily mean they no longer want to be friends.
There’s a Jane Austen quote in Northanger Abbey, (I think)

‘There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends’

How lovely it would be if we all had friends like that?

Brilliant poem as it is what happens on lunchtime meetups with ladies of a certain age. I recognise some of the topics of discussion.

Brilliant.

GoodAfternoonTea sorry to read your post. I hope you will find a friend soon, doesn’t have to be a close friendship, just a fun one. It’s never too late, I have a good friend that I met by accident only 5 years ago.

Spot on! I’ll have to show this to my sisters and friends. Thank you for sharing. 😊

Brilliant. That’s me and my five old workmates. I’m a mixture of Lorraine and Sally 😂

It is so heart warming to read not only the poem, but also the responses. Sadly, when I became my parents' carer I was swiftly dumped by friends of 40 years and more to whom I had been loyal and supportive. Looking through old photos yesterday, I had given too much of myself and realised that they were only ever social friends, not friends for darker days. I still try to be empathic but do not make close friendships anymore and that is how it will stay.

That’s spot on! I must share this with The Sisterhood (or as my husband calls us, The Witches of Eastwick) It’s only in my dotage that I appreciate the true worth of good friends.

Sounds just like our U3a Fine Dining group. 😂

So true Maw.

Love this Maw! Thank you for sharing.
We joke in Málaga that ‘on our bit of pensions’ we can’t afford to be Ladies Who Lunch every week so we nicknamed our group Ladies Who Wine (LWW). We meet every Tuesday afternoon for drinks, friendship, laughter and occasional tears as we’ve been meeting every week these past 11 years since I retired. Two ladies have lived out there these past 25 years and so keep the group going - as us ‘holidaymaker’ ladies join in at the bar whenever we can - to squeals of delight!

True friends who care about one another are definitely one of life’s blessings. Fun & support. Who could wish for more on a Tuesday afternoon? 💕

Thanks it’s great! Just back from an evening out with ‘the girls’.
It’s all so true!

Love it…and so true 😂🥰

Is it just me or does anyone else read anything as if it's rhythmic after reading a poem? It takes quite a while before revert to reading normally - maybe it's an 'ism' of sorts?

Brilliant 😅

I remember a lunch where it wasn't ten credit cards, which everyone had prepared for, but the electronics for till and card machine had both failed so ten people had to scrabble in their purses for cash, and the poor cashier had to work out all the prices and calculate the change for ten bills in her head, while ten people stood around the till doing last minute chatting, saying lengthy goodbyes, and offering help with making up the differences between what was needed and what was actually in the purses.

Brilliant !
I'm wheezing like Linda and have clapped out knees like Rhonda.
Never mind-there's always lunch with friends.

Excellent - just what I needed tonight.

At 68 I am not there yet, but I can see it coming. The GP told me I am basically healthy, then added I had some age related conditions. So the poem rings true to me.
I will look at it as onwards and upwards, and I will enjoy those lunches.