I rarely check luggage when I'm traveling for work. Not only do I desperately need my things, but I'm never in one place long enough for a lost piece of luggage to catch up with me. This means that, when boarding a plane, I have to hoist a heavy bag to the overhead bin.

I had an interesting experience this week. While waiting in Charlotte (NC) for my flight home after talking about UPLIFT at a breast cancer symposium, I saw a German-speaking family (father, mother, two daughters). I boarded the plane just before they did and was about to negotiate lifting my bag to the bin, when the father, in perfect English, said, "May I give you a hand with that bag?" And he did, without a moment's complaint.

I've never had this experience before. Never. On occasion, if my bag is particularly heavy or my back particularly tired, I'll look around at the men boarding the plane near me, hoping that one will take pity and offer to help. They look away and keep their mouths shut. What is it with able-bodied men in this country that keeps them from showing the least amount of gallantry?

Just this afternoon, I was hauling a heavy carton filled with copies of UPLIFT Express to Kinko's/FedEx for mailing. Balancing the carton on my middle and holding on with both hands, I approached the front door of the store just as a 70-something gentleman walked by on the street. He took one look at me, turned, went to the door where I was headed, and opened it for me. A 70-something gentleman. He puts men half his age to shame!

Let me say here that my husband always helps women lift luggage. But he's the exception, from what I've seen. What is it with those other men? If any of you have any idea, I'd love to know.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaking of UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, I got good news this week. My publisher is going back to press for another 3,000 copies of the new 5th Anniversary Edition. What this means is that the first print run of this new edition has sold out, and there have been enough orders to warrant a new printing.

Just as exciting, there will be changes on the cover of the book for this new printing and all printings thereafter. The changes are small but important -- the addition of a small burst in the upper left corner of the cover art (that pretty picture you see on my HOME page, the one of the woman with the hat at the beach). The burst says FIFTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, and there's an new bar on the back cover that elaborates on this. It tells readers that this volume features a new foreword by me, as well as an additional chapter that follows up on the lives of the original contributors.

These newest copies of UPLIFT are due in on October 23, which means they could be arriving in stores within days of that. My apologies to those of you who hit stores looking for this book and found it out of stock. That should be remedied soon.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spoke about UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors last night to nearly 200 breast cancer survivors at the Newton Wellesley Hospital Breast Conference. It was an amazingly inspiring, truly heart-warming event. So what is it about these gatherings of women? I was talking about it with some of the women there with me last night. Is it the women part? The breast cancer part? The night out part?

I like to think it's the clothesline part.

Come again? you say.

I like to think it's the clothesline part. In the "old" days, women used to congregate behind their houses and talk while they were hanging the clothes out to dry. It was a wonderful social activity, particularly welcome when there was an issue of concern to discuss. Nowadays, we call it a support group. They didn't call it anything back then, but that was exactly what it was.

Women talk. We're far more capable to being intimate in conversation than men are, or so psychologists claim. To some extent, we rely on the support of women -- yes, more so than men do the support of men.

Thanks to Maytag, Whirlpool, and the like, few of us nowadays hang our clothes out to dry. Those of us who remember, of course, miss that wonderful outdoorsy smell, but that's neither here nor there for the purpose of this blog. Our lives are busy; we're off to work and back, off to the supermarket and back, off to the doctor and back. We join book groups, knitting groups, cooking groups deliberately to be with other women with whom we share a particular interest.

Breast cancer events are no different. They're a gathering of women who share a particular interest. And believe me, they are totally satisfying.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)