Thanks for responding, Marty. It's good to hear others' comments and feelings. As for resentment and feelings of offense, what is it they say? I can forgive, but I cannot forget? Or is it vice versa? I would say 8 out of 10 times I would come home frustrated and annoyed, I may have even alluded to that here over the years. Wondered why I bothered. Some of them are downright tiresome, small, the biggest thing in their lives is boasting about their grandchildren. Everybody wants the floor, they are forever outshouting each other. One of the ladies finally said they should raise their hands and wait to be called upon to speak, otherwise it was bedlam. But that didn't last very long, LOL! One of the very loudest and longest-winded is now over 90, not only does she command the floor, but she is repeating the same things over and over! She is into celebrity, and because she has a very accomplished son, she talks about her life style with the rich and the famous. It's interesting to hear once, but to listen to the same thing for an hour each meeting is a bit much. The same goes for the grandmas with grade school grandchildren, constant talk of report cards and elementary school awards. And 10th birthday parties, can you imagine, 10 years old already, why we remember when she was born! And of those grands whose grades got them into 100 colleges. And the plans for the granddaughter's wedding, and where the newly-weds decided to live, and how much it will cost. One lady has a boyfriend, and all you hear is about him; he's brought up in every topic we address, like she isn't a person in her own right. This is particularly grating on another lady who dated him before he settled down with her, and both of them have told me of their uneasy relationship because of it. Maybe this is what one of the ladies meant when she said "Women can be bitchy." And once, there was a very short, but mean-spirited back and forth across the table by two of the women. I never found out what it was about.

Once, at my engagement party, my husband-to-be's grandmother came over to my mother and told her what a wonderful catch I was getting, that he was this, that, and the other thing, and I was lucky to be getting such a fellow! My mother agreed with her, yes, he was all that she said, and everyone was happy to have him in the family. When Grandma walked away, I asked my mother how she could have listened to all that bragging and not said something good about me. She laughed and said it is no compliment when you brag about your own, it is only a compliment when it comes from a stranger.