Tea Women Network

In October 2003 I launched a group here in NYC called Tea Women Network.  My primary intention at that time was to host monthly afternoon teas for women entrepreneurs, small business owners and professionals who worked for themselves.  At those afternoon teas I hosted speakers I believed were the best people out there I knew and could find in the areas of small business marketing, organizing yourself for success, etc.  I even hosted a woman who talked to my beautiful ladies about how to make a man happy in bed.  It was my most successful afternoon tea, needless to say.

I then went on to launch another group in Stamford, CT.  I basically followed the same formula and hosted similar kinds of speakers.  In Connecticut many of the ladies were corporate employees and I got an insight into how miserable some of them were although they were quite happy to have regular paychecks.

I planned to launch a number of other chapters across the country.  As women heard about Tea Women Network they emailed me to say they wanted to open a chapter in their hometown.  That was the plan…

In April of 2004 I flew to Florida to visit my elderly parents who spent six months a year down there.  On this trip I noticed my father, who had suffered numerous mini-strokes and many other ailments over the previous six or seven years, was really looking ragged.  I was very worried but when I discussed it with my mother she said he was fine.  I was really worried and flew down there again two weeks after I returned to New York to see what was happening.  My father was not doing well and I had him immediately hospitalized.

To make a long story short, they came home from Florida in May of 2004 and never went back.  I took my father to a new set of doctors and he was diagnosed with being in end stage Alzheimer’s.  At that time my mother’s back was in such bad shape she couldn’t walk unattended.  I tried to work as much as I could until April 2005 when I finally gave up and stayed at home with my parents caring for them full time.

There’s so much more to this story, however, the story of what’s been happening in my life is a story that many hundreds of thousands of people in the USA alone have been or will be experiencing for themselves firsthand.  Our economy is not good and may never get back to where it was.  Millions of baby boomers will find themselves in a similar position to me and not have the personal resources to support their parents or other elderly loved ones. Governments, either national and local, won’t be able to help them as they used to in the past.

I’m launching this blog now because Tea Woman number one, me, has found a way to get past the many challenges I’ve experienced in the past five years. I’d like to share that with my friends and friends to come.  It’s not just about caregiving though.  It’s about how boomer women can create new economies for themselves so they can cope with the challenges ahead and not starve to death.  It’s also about tea.  I can’t tell you how many times sitting down with a cup of my favorite tea saved me from going insane.  I’m really not exaggerating when I say that.

I hope you’ll join me when I share my stories and offer you some advice on what’s worked for me.

This is my blog, Tea Women Network.  I hope you’ll become a Tea Woman as well.

Ellen Schultz
New York City
March 2009