Sue Fagalde Lick spent many years in the newspaper business in California before moving to the Oregon coast, earning an MFA in creative writing, and caring for her husband through Alzheimer’s Disease. These days, she focuses on books, essays and poetry when she’s not doing music as a church choir director and singer-songwriter. She lives near Newport, Oregon with her canine best friend, Annie.
Never one to make friends easily, Sue still has a warm phone relationship with her childhood best friend, but others have dropped off along the way, including the friend she has written about for My Other Ex. She has a new best friend in Oregon. They met coming out of the shrink’s office, where they discovered they had the same diagnosis, the same medications, and the same model car. These days they call each other “sis” and turn to each other when they need help or just someone to talk to. When “Sis” is visiting her kids and grandkids, they text.
Having children or not having them can be a real divider among women. No matter how much friends love each other, the children and grandchildren have to be top priority. Feelings get hurt, and the one without kids feels left out. Sue wrote about it in her book Childless by Marriage and continues to blog on the subject at http://www.childlessbymarriage.blogspot.com. Her other books include Stories Grandma Never Told, Freelancing for Newspapers, and Shoes Full of Sand. Visit her website at http://www.suelick.com.