I only named recurring or guest-starring cast regulars. We still have Peggy, Betty, Joan, Jane and Mona to learn more about.

It just occurred to me that the regular women cast members fall into three groups. Trailblazers: Peggy, Jane. Past: Mona, Joan. Evolutionary Mix: Betty. With Betty, there's one foot in the old roles for women, and on foot stepping into the new roles for women. I don't think Betty will completely escape old-school programming, but I can see her embracing some of the new societal/business roles for women.

You're so right, jamm.

I can definitely see Betty being invited to a "conscious raising" meeting by Helen Bishop---and attending. She probably wouldn't say much, but the seeds (women's lib) would definitely get planted.

"consciousness raising" I meant to post.

I like Crab's wife who's always drunk.

I still like Roger's intro "Crab, this is Duck. Duck, this is Crab."

Great post jamm54. The MM writers have done (as usual) a beautiful job of blending each personality into the story lines. It would be interesting to look into the future as the women’s movement evolves and see how it alters each of the women’s lives. Who knows, Joan may have started her own boutique agency and Peggy & Pete opened an day care center in SoHo.

Or poor Joan may be the first woman to start a domestic violence shelter for women when it's all over.....

That housewife thing is looking better and better to me! I have worked my whole life and have zip to show for it. Could have married any number of men who asked me, lived an easy life and ended up in exactly the same place. But who knew?

Flowerpower, from my perspective (twice divorced) you did the right thing!

I thought for sure that Crab's wife was going to sit in that "repaired" chair and bust it...after she'd bumped into the wall...they must have thought that would be too obvious.

It would have been even better if Betty had purposely put it at Don's place and he'd sat down and ended up on the floor under the table. Roger would have loved that!

Yeah, who knew is right, flowerpower. I never married, and at one point made in the mid $50's for over a decade, and having nothing to show for it (i.e. house, assets, zero debt). Of course, after a strike I was involved, I was not able to get a job (post 9-11). I was 47 years old with 2 degrees, and basically "unemployable" according to the few interviews I got (like about 3). So I went into real estate (how's that for a good laugh). Now, 8 years after the strike, I'm deeply in debt (through unemployment and real estate and caring for the parents), and it's time to try and get a job. I tell you, my timing is hysterically off in this life. You do have to laugh because it's so wonderfully bad, no one could write this stuff.

But, I have my health (don't about the teeth), I hope, and personally, am okay with life. Well, financially, that's another story (along with just about everyone else in the country these days), so....I have to acknowledge and be grateful for what I do have. Sanity, health, some teeth, and hopefully I'll get my sense of humor back (kind of died with the death of my mother).

But, I have my health (don't about the teeth), I hope, and personally, am okay with life. Well, financially, that's another story (along with just about everyone else in the country these days), so....I have to acknowledge and be grateful for what I do have. Sanity, health, some teeth, and hopefully I'll get my sense of humor back (kind of died with the death of my mother).

As a poster on these forums almost as long as you, jamm (or maybe a bit longer, who can recall? lol)---- and one who remembers many of your posts when you were just coming out of your dark tunnel of caregiving, etc., I very much admire your grit. You are a real survivor, sounds like to me, girl!

I think it's admirable that you have come out the other side of all you've been through and are still able to laugh at the absurdity of life.

God does indeed have a sense of humor...a dark one, to be sure, sometimes.

Yes, Thank God for a sense of humor.
I do think, though - and I wonder if anybody else has noticed this - that some people just seem to be money magnets and others, well, nuthin'' flows.

There is a certain lady in my circle of friends - she's well to do, inherited, got in on the CA real estate market when it was low and made a killing without much enterprise, etc. Of course married a rich guy. We all went out once and she bent down in the parking lot and picked up a $100 bill. Three of us had walked right over it, not seeing, but Clarice got it. We all say that she could fall into an outhouse and come up with a boxed lunch and a dozen roses!

Yes, flowerpower, I do think some people are money magnets, but I've been told before that it's about attitude and outlook. When I never ever worried or thought about money, I always had it. Now, all I do is worry about money, and I don't have it.

It really does seem the more you focus negatively on something, the less likely that anything will happen because in essence you (figuratively - not you specifically) don't believe anything will happen.

It's also like that old saying our friends or mothers would give us about love and marriage: when you're not looking for it, it happens. Yeah, right. I'm 55, and I haven't "looked" for it or cared for a long time, but nothing changed there.

So....the platitudes come into existence for a reason, but sometimes I wonder at their believability.

Maybe there is something to "karma", don't know.

It does seem like money attracts money, though.

As in, the rich get richer....unfair, but appears to be true from what I've seen.

Damn.

It's like Peggy said "Pete nobody has it easy". You may think that your friend is a money magnet, but I bet there is another facet of her life that isn't doing so well.
Every time my job goes well, family life sucks. And when my health is great my parents check into the hospital for a fall or someting else.
Your right about one thing it's all about attitude. I'm in commission sales and every customer deserves my best. So you just tell yourself "It's Showtime" smile and go on. I know I'm an optimist, but hey, as long as there's chocolate I'm good.

A positive or negative state-of-mind really does seem to influence events, not exactly sure why. It's really about faith and trust in life, and it seems to happen.

In sales, whenever I was thinking about the commission rather than the customer, I'd fail. If my priorities were focused on the customer's needs, things went okay.

And holottawoman is right, everyone has something in their life that isn't easy, no matter what the outer appearances seem to be to others. I've certainly found that out, from the friend who has a schizophrenic adult son (but who never mentioned it) to my other friend who urged her daughter to have a weight-loss surgery that has now impacted her health and suffering for several years. So.....take your pick, we each have our own particular load to haul around.

As one of my favorite SNL characters used to say:

"It's always something..." ------

Roseanne Roseannadanna (Gilda Radner)

It is always something, and how a person chooses to perceive it, and then move forward, in spite of whatever it is, seems to be the decisive factor in personal happiness or contentment. There are so many people I know who have burdens I could never cope with, yet they seem relatively happy.

So, is it inherent temperament or an inward power of the soul? Knowing them has made me realize that I have to change some real flaws and change my outlook on life to gain more peace since I tend to be pessimistic. In other words, develop my faith in life.

You're sure right about all that, jamm.

One never knows another until they walk in that person's shoes, so to speak.

I heard about a sermon once where the minister said that if it was possible for folks to bring all their troubles up and physically place them on the altar and then everyone could trade theirs for someone else's, that, after seeing all the different woes others were coping with, they'd rush to take their own problems back!

I'm sure that's true.

Just a little extra post I forgot when I posted the above:

I have a quote I framed and put on my wall that I try to live by (don't always accomplish it, but I try to) ------------

"Be Kind...for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ------ Philo

Don't know who "Philo" is, but that name sounds as if he was around thousands of years ago, which definitely speaks to the eternal human condition.

We're all in this mess together...might as well try to be nice, and like holotta says..."as long as there's chocolate, I'm good"! That goes for me, too! lol

Oh, and holotta, sounds like you are in the midst of caring for frail parents.

I think both jamm and I and many others on this forum can empathize greatly with that.

Just lean on us, kid...I wish I had had this board when my folks were in their declining years (Mom--1990's and Dad--2001-2006) all here are such great "listeners"...right, jamm?

Yes, many of us have been there. Now see, mine was only 2 1/2 intense years, and then both my parents were gone. The before and after has been tough, and probably what was so difficult for me was having absolutely no support from family members; hard to come to terms with, in addition to grieving. The grief really started to hit me last year about this time.

SCfan, I don't know how you coped for so long with your parents, but in the end, what other choice is there except to face it and keep going forward? Thank god we can't see too far down the road or we might be inclined to crawl in bed and pull the covers up over our heads, if we knew what was coming.

Yes, jamm, it is so hard coping with loss of one's parents whether it's fast or gradual--- or there's the intensity you experienced with losing both so close together--- or with a space in between like my situation was...plus the fact that we both were in the unfortunate fix of "doing it all" (NO family help) which makes it so much worse than it has to be.

I remember thinking when things were the most intense (from about spring 2004 on until May '06--- when dad passed) "He's HIS dad, too...he should be helping with all this!" (about my brother, who is now also passed away--- but, that's a whole 'nuther story, of course) who did N-O-T-H-I-N-G to help with my dad's care, in spite of numerous pleas --- plus you feel guilty because you feel angry with your sib(s) (justified) but also with the parent who can't really help being so old/ill. It's just a huge emotional burden almost more than the physical one of the caregiving, isn't it??

My mom passed so (comparatively) quickly in Feb. '97 (10 days in hospital) that there wasn't a lot of emotional baggage to deal with along the way, like there ended up being with my dad. Plus, we as a family, had not ever gone through any "immediate family" deaths yet. I remember just pushing through when it was all happening because I loved my dad so much...but when I look back on it now--- with the luxury of time having passed by to reflect on it all...I do wonder sometimes how I ever stayed out of the nut house. I'm sure you have that same thought process, huh?

Sorry for rambling on so...please feel free to unload in response...I'm happy to "listen"....

One more "poor me" then that is a ALL, I promise...

During the time after my mom passed and when my dad passed (a bit over 9 years) I was in a very difficult phase of menopause--- plus grieving for my mom and also coping with my dad's needs as a widower--- all at once...culminating with my being hospitalized for a hysterectomy in late April '06 (which happened to coincide with my dad's passing (two days after my surgery!)--- so I was not able to be with him "at the last"... Guilt!--even though there was no way I could have been "there for him" at the last...my poor husband had to go and do the funeral arrangements (most were already arranged, I will say that for my dad, he planned ahead on that) right from my hospital
room...where he slept each night the week I was there (I was released from the hosp. the day before the funeral) He had it rough during everything, too, right on through everything-- but in a different way than I did. I think having him to lean on for the 9 years that seemed like 20 is the sole and ONLY reason I was not a candidate for the funny farm somewhere along the way during those roller coaster years from Feb. '97 to May'06, I am convinced of it. So, I had that part much easier than you have had, jamm. If I'd had it to do alone, I'd have been committed long ago.

That's it, I swear. I feel terrible being such a blabbermouth but it kind of gushed out of me.

That'll teach ya to jog my memory, won't it??

LOL?

I was pretty crazy the fall of 2007 (my stepdad died in May 2007). Yes, the anger and hurt you feel is very hard to get over, but only eats away at you if you don't come to some sense of forgiveness. I think it usually ends up falling to the "girl" of the family to care for the ailing parents. In my case I have one birth brother (Mom) and 2 stepbrothers (my stepdad). It's kind of strange that I ended up caring for my stepdad - I never grew up with him (he married my mother when I was 26), but for whatever reason, I loved him very much and couldn't abandon him in a nursing home; he had a strained relationship with his sons (my mother was his 4th wife).

I will say menopause can make anyone crazy. Backing out of your hormones in middle age and behaving irratically, emotionally and unpredictably as an adult can be embarrassing - it's least that's the effect it had on me. My only consolation is that I went through menopause starting at 31, so by my early 40's it was all over.

Yes, jamm...all the baggage and unresolved stuff between parent/child (esp. father/son, I learned) comes to a head when parent(s) approach the end.

Well, "when it rains it pours" as my mom used to say.

(everything gangs up on you, in other words!)

Never just a little bit of trouble...it's either a truckload or none! LOL

SCfan, that's okay - probably have never had a chance to get it off your chest. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes. Being stoic can get to you after a while.

Thanks for "listening" (reading) !!!!!!

I don't think I've ever "unloaded" since it all happened----- 12 years--- and almost 3--- years ago.

It's remarkable how much humans can endure when they're forced to, right?

And holotta, feel free to join in the "God, is/did this really happen(ing) to me???..." moan fest anytime...us Maddicts are an understanding bunch!

Crazy, but understanding!

Yeah, we better not devolve too often into the whining or they'll ban us for life. Of course, I do think they check out the forum - there are some great life stories in here and incidences.

When women, divorce, infidelity and depression was one topic, I'll never forget the poster who wrote about the married woman neighbor who had been left by her husband, and sat on the front lawn in her lawn chair and blew her brains out. Again, you just can't write this stuff sometime - fiction can be so wimpy compared to real life.

I still think Pete's balcony chicken-throwing came from one of our discusssions about how the series related to our lives; some of us started writing about our mothers' temper tantrums and throwing things, so.......

What a harrowing, thrilling, exhausting, strange trip this life is. My belief is if you can come out sane and even remotely whole, with some of your humor intact, you won the battle that is life.

My mom called me today she's in the hospital but thinks she will get out tommorrow. She's 90, I went to her birthday last October. She lives in Texas and I live in Hawaii so it's kind of expensive to travel 3000 miles to see each other. As they say in Texas my mom is a "hoot" she's been giving the nurses a bit of a time, I'm sure they'll be lining up to wheel her out. She was in because bed soares that didn't heal got infected. My dad and her sit in those chairs that raise up so you can get out easier and they end up sleeping in them. They now are going to have to spend time in hospital beds so they don't get these soars. My sister lives in Texas too, and my brother,who lives on the east coast, travels all over the world for a living so he uses his miles to see them more often. I'm lucky they can be there for them. They are still at home and we have someone who checks on them for several hours a day. My dad will be 90 on monday.SCFan, he was orginally from your neck of the woods, Oklahoma I mean, a place called Blackwell.
Do you know where that is?

God Bless your folks, holotta, you know they've seen a lot in 90 years of living, for sure.

Tell your Dad "Happy 90th Birthday!" from your crazy internet pals, The Maddicts! I'll be sure to put in a little prayer for their speedy healing---and for you and your bro. and sis, too.

Yes, I do know of the town of Blackwell here in Oklahoma. Haven't been there, but I've heard of it. Can't recall just where in OK it is at the moment. Seems it may be down south but not sure about that.

And jamm, I bet you're right as you can be about the MM folk checking out our forum...why not? Free ideas! That chicken throwing bit with Pete is just too close to not have come from here. I'm with you on that...wonder what will be in Season 3 that we've all posted about?

Had Blackwell mixed up with Cromwell...Blackwell is way up in northern OK in Kay County--- not too far from the border of Oklahoma and Kansas, I think.

I'm not positive, but I think it was in the oil drilling "glory days" of long ago right along with Ponca City, OK.

.....Still no 57Chevy.....

I know, Dry, and it worries me.....esp. since in one of her very first posts she mentioned she'd had a heart attack before...I wish she'd check in with us.

It's been 10 days.....just sayin'.....

I know, I keep checking every day hoping to see a post from her. Very worrisome.