I have a confession to make...Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors of women's literature. Years ago I read a short story by her (the title has left me) about a woman in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Money is tight, and she is very busy, so she locks herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. The details are vague (It's been so long) but I think she may have had orange Crush in there with her, (Diet Coke would have been my choice), and her husband brings her dinner and sits outside the door because "they always eat dinner together." It was poignant and beautiful, and I wasn't anywhere near the age one thinks of for having such a crisis, but both of my kids were small and I was working full time (Staying in the bathroom for a weekend by myself sounded like the Waldorf then). I do remember reading, laughing, and crying, and thinking- she gets me. This woman knows what it's like to be a woman. Years later I wrote to her, a thank you for all she's written. That lovely woman wrote back! (The card arrived serendipitously on my birthday.).It was on lovely paper with an envelope of teal with orange peaches ( I still have it). She even mispelled "write" and crossed it out with her pen and fixed it. I loved her even more then for not throwing away the sheet and writing it over- for letting me see her humanness (Because after all, who doesn't mess up with a homonym every once in a while?) If you don't read this novel (And yes, I realize I've told you nothing about it), read another one of hers (There are too many to mention,but you can't go wrong with one of her books of short stories The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted).
P.S She also has a great recipe for a chocolate rice krispie marshmallow concoction that words can't describe. (She made it herself and brought it to one of her book readings.) Maybe I'll post that at a later date, and you can make it if you ever find yourself in need of a weekend in the bathroom!