I remember thinking that one of the hardest things I would ever do was to move from Pittsfield to Chicago to start at Loyola. While it was hard, I quickly adjusted. It helped that I discovered the beauty of alcohol and was surrounded by quirky, kind, interesting people...most of whom are my friends still today.

It turns out that, yes, that was a very hard move. But moving to Cincinnati after 13 years surrounded by all those quirky, kind, interesting people I met back in 1995 (plus a few I picked up along the way) turned out to to be equally as terrifying and hard.

I left behind an incredible community of people who supported me, laughed with me (okay, maybe at me) and held my hand through a thousand things.

I know that it will take a long time to build that kind of camaraderie and community here, but Thursday mornings have provided me with a fabulous start.

Since early October I have been meeting Genna (and her daughter Elise) and Sharon (and her son Ian) for coffee either out and about in the 'Nati or at one of our houses. We chat about nothing in particular...Old embarrassing stories from high school, our significant others (and their obvious flaws), our amazing, intelligent and gorgeous children, restaurants to try in the city or recipes worth exchanging.

I have found that after our coffee klatches I am more relaxed, more productive, more patient. It's like sanity in a coffee cup...

While the mommies caffinate and chat, the amazing kids quietly watch a cartoon. Addison paid some attention to Elise and Ian, but she was mostly paid attention to Maggie the Cat.