All I want to know is WHY it is as cold in Florida as it was in Atlanta this weekend! We headed up to the land of peaches and pecans to see a videotaping of our good friend, comedienne Anita Renfro (check out her web site - she's a hoot and a half), and froze to death!

But it was a good girl trip. Our girls are big fans of Anita's - they met her at the Christian Booksellers Convention and have some of her estrogen-laden material from her videos memorized. Anita and her husband John have become some of those "CBA buddies" that we look forward to seeing every year. So we bought the girls tickets to this taping for Christmas and went with our friend Dawn (who is comfortable with Atlanta traffic, bless her) to take it in, along with a couple other friends from Atlanta (who have a new baby - we switched therapies, mom taking the day off to see Anita and us goo-gooing over the new baby the rest of the time!).

We all dressed up in our best duds (we might be taped, after all!) and went over to the Dozier Center, a beautiful new performing arts center, to take it all in. And we laughed our heads off! Anita as a way of telling it like it is that makes one think, "Omigosh, that's SO TRUE" while at the same time you're wondering, "Is she REALLY going to talk about this??" She's incredibly bold and irreverent at times, which is good for all of us women who come to these events just to hear someone finally tell the truth about the difficulties and triumphs of womanhood.

Why do we gals get so darned uptight, feeling like we have to perform, like we have to have it all together, like we have to be perfect parents and wives and workers and … whatever! Anita's good medicine for that disease.

I fall into it as well. Today I've been trying to pack for a trip to Arkansas where a group of lovely people are doing a play they developed based on The Princess and the Kiss. They have bent over backwards to get me out there just because they're so delighted about the book and the production, but I'm here stressing because I can't find the suitcase I need (where in tarnation can a suitcase hide??) and because I have to pack some books at the last minute because a communication breakdown in our young company kept them from being drop-shipped, and I have a ten-year-old accompanying me who needs quite a bit of packing assistance - she wants to dress like a Floridian (imagine) to run around in a state with snowfall. Egad! I just want to have some fun and enjoy these folks who are ready to treat me like a queen!

OK, so that's why I'm writing this blog today - to get it off my mind and do something different before I lose my cool (some of this is pre-menopausal, I do have a good excuse). An older woman who advises me told me the other day how much better I'm doing at resting, balancing, transitioning to life in Orlando … it makes me laugh as I look at myself today! Have I really improved??

Maybe that's why we need each other as women, even if we only write a general blog to get it off our chests. Sometimes life is just so incredibly ridiculous! And if you're like me, it's an ongoing battle to overcome the chaos, laugh, and move on.

That's why I need my friend Anita, and that's why I need whoever is reading today. If I can laugh, or call, or write it down and see how funny it is, it really helps.

So thanks for being my outlet today, y'all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go hunt up a suitcase. Pray for me! (-=