In September, 2005 I joined a local chapter of the Red Hat Society, "The Ladies With Hat-i-tude."



I'm really not much of a joiner, but after DH's stroke, and moving 160 miles from where we had lived the last 13 1/2 years, I needed something for just "me." So with that driving me, there I was at my first meeting, resplendent in my purple shirt and red hat that doesn't go!



It's a swell bunch of ladies, and I felt at home. Of course there was laughter, food and wine, so it was my kind of good time!



I probably never would have done this without the impetus of DH's stroke. Sometimes life pushes us to journey places we never dreamed of going.



It's not necessarily a bad thing.



"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but to slide in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming WOW . . . What a ride!"~Anonymous