I recently picked up a Red Hat Club book at a yard sale. I've been a fan of the poem "Warning" for a long time and look forward to the day when I am of an age to throw caution to the wind and "start to wear purple". No more coifed hair if I prefer a pony-tail, no more embarrassed teen-agers rolling their eyes; no I definitely intend to make up for the 'sobriety of my youth'. With that anticipation, I delved into the Red Hat Club expecting to meet funny and wise earth mothers, no longer held hostage to social conformities. Much to my disappointment, I encountered a shallow group of women who worried about whether their panties matched their lingerie and actually took exclusive plastic surgery cruises. Whoever heard of such a thing? These are hardly the kind of women who would "sit on the pavement" or "run sticks along public railings". I was seriously distressed that the women of the Red Hat books would define our generation!!

But then I was lucky enough to happen across Meredith Efken's group of savvy witty women in SAHM I Am and @ Home for the Holidays. Now here were the women I have known in my 50 years on the planet, women who contend with grumpy children, critical families and financial stresses. What modern mother doesn't struggle with the constant 'perfect mother' yammering in her head, or choosing between hands-on parenting or financial security.

Meredith doesn't shy away from these, or any other topic; the opposite of the Red Hat books that slip around controversy by adopting the rule of our grandmothers don't discuss politics or religion. Not the image that I'd like our generation to leave with the world. Luckily, not Meredith either. Interspersed between emergency room visits and school plays, Meredith's SAHMs take on the issues of the day with a humor that only the mother of a child with a bean up his nose can know. Through personal obstacles and heartaches, the stories of these dynamic women range from snowflake babies and post-partum depression, to racism and religious hypocrisy and even the silliness of the 'War on Christmas'.

Both SAHM books are fun and easy reads. I recommend them both because you won't want to miss a moment of these women's touching, and very real, lives.