Where were you during the 70's?

I have to admit I can totally relate to Mamma Mia. I was divorced and living in northern CA during the 70's. Nope, I was not a hippie-dippy (although I secretly envied their freedom and passions) because I had 3 kids I was raising alone. That meant I had to get a good job (I did) with all the benefits (my ex was not required to provide health coverage for the children, for example) and would often find myself on the bus going home from work with no idea what I would be fixing for our evening meal. Frugal was my middle name.

I did get a second part-time job, writing restaurant reviews for a local weekly magazine. They paid me AND covered the cost of some incredible meals.

Meanwhile, it was disco time in California. Colors were bright, the music was all the BeeGees and Abba, with John Travolta dancing on those glowing dance floors. It was a wild time; it's a good thing my kids kept me grounded or I might have floated off like so many folks did. I remember taking visitors down to Height-Ashbury in SF where the drug-addled street people were a sad indication of the future. Some never did recover.

Then I met a fellow who was a wonderful dancer, a talented singer...and someone who went to church every Sunday. Huh? An outdoorsman who loved unstructured picnics up in the mountains, a man who came to dinner and stunned my teens by doing the dishes after clearing the table. He built a wooden patio cover on my condo that upset the community group (it was supposed to be a tin Sears cover only) until they drove over to see it and then asked me for the plans so they could build one like it. There were no plans; it was all in his head.

OK, this was meant to explain my fascination with Mamma Mia. It brought back those California days, and meeting the love of my life. Marrying him and moving to northern Maine...well, that's another chapter, and certainly a major culture shock. Trading the freedom of northern California for the cool New England uptight and judgmental focus on life, and working for the Congresswoman, then US Senator, Snowe for 18 years...yes, I've certainly been fortunate.

Now, if I could only be as agile as Meryl Streep was in the movie!