I just had to report...for those of you who don't already know, I volunteered to be part of a research focus group this evening (a SAHM will do anything for a little extra cash - almost). Anyway, I just had to say what an incredible experience that was! It never ceases to amaze me how much information can be learned among complete and total strangers in less than two hours. In this short time, I learned four of the women are gay (three with serious girlfriends), one is a bipolar woman, two have been raped, one had her gallbladder out (well, two I guess if you include me), one has had a hysterectomy, two are school teachers, one moved from Iowa, one has a dad who is a doctor, three live in Winooski....o.k. you get the idea. The details aren't important, but the sheer amount of stories swapped was amazing to me.
What was also interesting to me, although not a surprise necessarily, is that every person in the room shared this incredible love of Vermont. It was hard not to as we sat in this fantastic room with a 360 degree view of the Lake and the Mountains at sunset. But really, it was a passion that you rarely hear expressed in that way. It made me so grateful to live here. Not only for the sunset and the beautiful place, but discussing issues with this diverse group of people for two hours reminded me what a great place Burlington is....and that there still is life outside my sphere of SAHMs (not that I don't love you all but we do talk about our kids a lot!). LOL.