2002-01-10 - 1:00 p.m.

When I was unhappily married, I had all my girlfriends over one night for dinner. Patty had just had a baby, Kelly already had one, and Lauren was having her own marital problems. And we decided that the ideal situation would be to move my husband out of that gigantic house, with its six bedrooms and huge kitchen, and move my girlfriends and their kids in. Life would be much better that way, don'tcha think? We'd still stay married to the husbands, and of course they'd live nearby and be involved in their kids lives on a daily basis.

But just women and kids living in the house. And these are my girls, my lifelong friends. We have supported each other through so much in our long history together, that it's a given. We talked about how, if you were having a bad day, and were feeling stressed and miserable, your friends would say, " Here, have a glass of wine. We'll start dinner." Or watch the kids, or run to the store, or pay the bills when you're broke. Of course, when I got divorced the ex told me I could keep the house. I'd have to pay him out for his half, but I could do it on an installment plan. Yeah, like I was going to have to be in touch with his sorry ass for the next ten years. See ya, house.

And now, of those girls. Jane is in Georgia, in a miserable, controlling, manipulative relationship that she hasn't the self esteem to get out of. Patty is seriously considering leaving Ken. Lauren is divorced. Kelly, thankfully, remains a beacon of hope for the rest of us. Maybe I should have kept the damn thing.

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