To Join Or Not To Join . . . . .

. . . . That is the question. I was recently invited to join an established book club. My previous book club lasted for about five years. Unfortunately, we had to disband due to lack of interest. The ladies slowly stopped reading the books and were just showing up to chit chat. As our children grew older, it was harder and harder to find an evening that worked out for everyone. Sadly, it just fell apart.

So when another friend invited me to her next book club meeting, I was excited about the new prospect. I diligently read the book, The Last Lecture, and was anxious to meet this new group of women, most of whom I'd never met before. My first shock was the food. My previous group just served wine and appetizers. I was a bit stunned to arrive at the hostess house and find a sit down dinner served on china. Whoa.....seemed sort of high brow to me. I attempted to join in the conversation here and there, but mostly just concentrated on eating my meal as politely as possible and having good table manners.

When the book conversation started, I was pleased to learn that everyone actually read the book. However, it was a bit of a shocker to have the first person drop the F bomb into her first comment. Huh? I really couldn't recall anything in The Last Lecture worthy of any sort of profanity. Kind of odd. But what was most disconcerting was my inability to join into the discussion in any meaningful way. This was a a group of very outspoken ladies. I couldn't squeeze in a word edge-wise. Every time I started to say something, someone else was attempting the same thing and it turned into a, "No, you go ahead." Have you ever been a part of a group like this? I eventually gave up and just sat and listened.

As ladies will do, the conversation turned to sex.......I have no clue how it happened. The women were all in their 40's and only one of them had been to a sex toy party, so she was describing that. Some were asking what different toys were. Others were talking about a sex survey that said that the average married couple has sex 1-2 times/week and they seemed surprised by how high that number was?? Then the talk turned to Brazilian waxes. Most of them were shocked to hear that there were people who were hairless down there. I just continued to keep my mouth shut. I think I live in a different world than a lot of people my age.

So, they meet again in another month and the book is The Shack. Truthfully, I have no desire to read the book, even though it is probably the hottest book out there right now, for the same reason I didn't want to read The Lovely Bones. I just don't want to imagine mine or anyone else's child being brutally murdered. To each his own.

Should I give the group another shot? Or should I gracefully bow out? Let me just say, the women were very gracious and welcoming to me. Maybe I just miss the old familiarity of my previous group? Or maybe I truly just don't fit in?