Tales of a Female Nomad - December 2003 - no limo tour

Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Goldman Gelden

Chosen by: Angie

Location: Angie's house in St. Paul

We decided to skip the limo tour this year. Next year hopefully we'll start it up again.

Angie had a Christmas theme at her house. Everything was red and green, including the ice cream and lots of fun treats. This book was a memoir written by a woman who has been traveling around the world for years after her divorce, and immerses herself into the culture wherever she is. So, Angie had us all pick a country that Rita had traveled to and make a dish from that culture or country. I brought potato latkas from Israel, Ryan brought lettuce wraps from China and Carolyn brought a mexican dip for example.

The woman who wrote the book was an inspiration. She was from a very wealthy, Hollywood type lifestyle and when her husband wanted a divorce, she just up and left and headed to Mexico and lived there for weeks with a family in a small village. Her two grown children were skeptical about her decisions, but supported her. She is a children's book author, so she was able to write from wherever she was and send it back to her publisher. That's how she made her money. She traveled to so many amazing places, and brought them to life, making me want to travel there. You could feel the love she had for these locations and the people who lived there in the way she wrote about them. We all really seemed to enjoy this book and it seemed fitting, considering some of us in our club are having marriage issues and need a strong and independent woman to look to.

Carolyn is due in a few weeks and she and Brian are still separated. I hope things work out for them. I can't imagine starting out motherhood as a single parent. We did a lot of talking about her situation and she is very brave. We are all proud of her.

Angie is also having marriage trouble. Matt is currently not living in the house. It kills me to see her in pain too. We also talked a lot about what she and Matt are going through.

Tonight proved again how priceless girlfriends are. When bookclub began, we were all newlyweds and didn't really have many big issues. Now, after being married for awhile, and having children, the struggles and pain begin. Funny how much difference a few years can make.

I am 5 months pregnant and all is well. We are not going to find out the sex, but I think it's a boy.