The name caught on-even with me-who needs a cane to find my way through the Hawaiian vowels, attempting to remember as I go that "e" is "a" and "i" is "e" and "a" is "ah." "Hale Wahine Mana" still limps rather than rolls off my tongue. And then Karren Louise added "Ooolala" to the end just to make it clear that even though we are three women over 50 and beyond, it doesn't mean we aren't still titillating! 

 

So what's our power as women who share a single roof? Right now, it's in telling our truth. Before our boxes and bags crossed the threshold, we'd agreed to speak the truth about our feelings, needs, and conflicts. "The truth as soon as we know it," one of us said. "Or as soon as appropriate," another added. "By sharing our experience without blame."

 

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm a little slow on the uptake when it comes to telling the emotional truth--especially to people I don't know well. I'm much more gifted in "mull and mutter in private" approach. Fortunately, my housemates are better at this than I am. The first couple of weeks I mostly watched, listened and learned. Sometimes it got edgy, but the two of them stayed with it and always worked things out. Each time they thanked me for "holding space" for them to move through the process. Hey, I thought to myself, maybe that's all I have to do! 

 

Then three weeks into the "Hale Wahine Mana Ooolala" experiment, my literal "moment of truth" arrived. An issue had arisen with the insurance on our household car and it appeared that driving privileges were about to be suspended for two of us.

 

Here's what I've gleaned from my virgin household