Riding in a Car with Women

By Darcy Thiel

Along with the aches and pains of a job search, I have also been able to meet some great people. I had to attend a meeting today and car pooled with three other women. There was the drive there, the meeting, and the drive home. Let me just say, I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. The range of topics was staggering, from professional to personal and everything in between.

Talked about my dad and got some phone numbers to follow up on some things for possible better care. (That’s the advantage of hanging out with other aging care managers. They know the same peeps as I do but many, many more.)

Talked about the agency we are affiliated with and the frustrations with our medical system and the lack of interest for our aging population. It was great to hear other people be passionate about wanting to change things for the better. I’m proud of our agency for focusing on the aging.

We talked about the upcoming conference, which is another year away. That’s good because pulling off a three-day conference is a monumental task.

Talked about the naked bike ride in Buffalo. I was able to say I knew people who actually participated in it. (By the way, if my friends are reading this, I did not initiate the term “naked bike ride.” THEY called it that, so don’t yell at me!)

Talked about one women’s ice pack on her bum. She got it from exercising. The back seat agreed that is one more great reason to avoid exercising whenever possible. It’s just too dangerous.  Bad for your health.

We talked about a surgeon that can reconstruct a woman’s virginity in the physical sense. Modern medicine! This comes in handy if you ever need to go to a country where a woman is required to be a virgin in order to be worthy of marriage.

We talked about breast-feeding and the miracle of birth in general. I pointed out that the whole concept of growing a human inside you is indeed a miracle, as well as quite creepy if you think about it too much.

Vibrators. That was a good one. Stories about a mom who discovered her teenage daughter had stolen hers to use it.

Stories about rectums that fall out. One of us was a nurse so she is the information guru on this one. I didn’t even know that was possible. You think that is weird? She had to put gloves on and put it back inside. Yikes.

Then there were the dating stories. I’m the only one not married at this point. I got out my list of names and numbers that have the jotted down notes to remind me of the lovely memories. We giggled over “chicken guy”, “toothless guy”, the guy that thought I was too fat, the guy that was younger than my children, etc., etc.. I decided I needed to give my boyfriend an extra hug next time I see him for saving me from all that nonsense.

I’m forgetting a bunch more topics, but let me just say I’m grateful for these new women in my life and I look forward to spending more time with them. You never know what the work day is going to bring you, that’s for sure. I did come home with a tummy ache from laughing so hard.

Darcy Thiel, MA is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York State. She has been a couple and family therapist in West Seneca, New York since the mid-1990s. She is the proud author of Bitter and Sweet: A Family’s Journey with Cancer, the prequel to Life After Death, on This Side of Heaven. To learn more about Thiel and other books from Baby Coop Publishing, LLC, visit her website at www.babycooppublishing.com or www.darcythiel.com.