But every trip was a reminder of how connected we were and how much we valued this time together. It was a break from our everyday lives, a chance to let loose and just be, at least for some time.
“Mom, do you remember that time at the beach house when Kayla fell off the dock?” Evelyn would laugh, nudging her sister.
“Don’t remind me!” Kayla groaned, but she couldn’t help smiling. “I still can’t believe you all left me in the water like that.”
“We didn’t leave you, sweetheart. We were laughing too hard to pull you out,” I would tease, shaking my head.
These moments were precious, and I held onto them fiercely. But things started to change when Liam, my only son, got married to Beth.
Beth was sweet when they first met. Quiet, reserved, but kind-hearted. I was genuinely happy for them, and when they got married, I welcomed her into our family with open arms. Naturally, I invited her to join us on our girls’ trips. I wanted her to feel included, to be a part of our little tradition. It felt right at the time.
At first, Beth fit in well enough. She was always polite, maybe a little shy, but I thought she’d warm up eventually. She wasn’t as chatty as my girls, but she seemed to enjoy the trips. We all tried to make her feel comfortable.
“So, Beth,” Kayla asked one afternoon as we sat in a café on one of our trips. “What was it like growing up in Maine? I’ve always wanted to visit.”
Beth smiled softly, twirling the straw in her iced coffee. “It was nice. Quiet. Not much to do in my town, but the summers were beautiful.”
The conversation felt a bit forced, but we all chalked it up to Beth needing time to adjust. She’d become part of our family, and I wanted her to feel like she belonged.
But after Beth gave birth to her son, Lucas, things changed. She gained a lot of weight during pregnancy, which isn’t unusual. However, eight years later, she still hadn’t lost the baby weight.
I noticed how much it was affecting her, not just physically but in the way she moved and interacted with us. It was becoming harder to include her in our trips.
One day, we were out shopping. It was supposed to be a fun, lighthearted afternoon, just like old times. We’d hit the mall, grabbed lunch, and made our way through the stores, chatting and laughing. But Beth kept falling behind.
I glanced back and saw her sitting on a bench near the entrance of a department store. She looked exhausted, wiping the sweat from her brow. “You guys go ahead,” she said, breathing heavily. “I’ll catch up.”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow at me, trying to hide her frustration. “Mom, do we need to wait again?”
I sighed. “Let’s just give her a few minutes.”
But those few minutes turned into long stretches of waiting. We’d walk ahead, browse through the racks, and eventually circle back to find Beth still sitting there. It was becoming a pattern — and not just on that day. Every trip we went on, we had to slow down, stop more often, and accommodate her.
By the time we left the mall that day, the mood had shifted. What was supposed to be a carefree afternoon felt strained, and my girls were clearly frustrated.
“Mom, I hate to say it, but these trips aren’t the same anymore,” Kayla said as we loaded the shopping bags into the car.
“I know,” I replied, running a hand through my hair. “I just… I don’t want to leave her out.”
Evelyn nodded, her face softening. “We get it. But we can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to us either.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I knew they were right. The truth was, Beth’s presence had begun to change the dynamic of our trips, and not for the better.
We were holding back, compromising our enjoyment to accommodate her. And it wasn’t just about walking slower or sitting more. It felt like the whole energy of our outings was different.
The tipping point came when we started planning our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard. It’s a tradition we’ve had for years — my favorite time of the year.
The fall colors, the smell of apples in the air, the laughter as we wandered through the orchard picking fruit. It was something we all looked forward to.
As we sat around the kitchen table, Evelyn looked up from her phone. “So, are we inviting Beth this year?”
I hesitated. We all knew what that would mean. Long breaks, slow walks, and probably missing out on some of the things we enjoyed most about the trip.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I finally said, my voice low. “It’s a lot of walking, and… well, you know.”
Kayla sighed with relief. “I’m glad you said it, Mom. It’s been hard with her.”
“We haven’t had a proper girls’ day in so long,” Lauren added, looking at her sisters. “I miss the way things used to be.”
The truth was staring me in the face, and there was no avoiding it.
That’s when I made the decision not to invite Beth. It wasn’t easy, but I told myself it was for the best. My daughters deserved a day to relax and enjoy themselves without constantly having to adjust to Beth’s limitations.
The day of the trip came, and it was perfect. The weather was crisp, the leaves were golden and red, and we spent the entire day walking through the orchard, picking apples, and laughing.
We didn’t have to stop or slow down. It was like the old days, just me and my girls. I even posted a few pictures on Facebook, not thinking much of it.
But later that night, my phone rang. It was Beth.
I took a deep breath before answering. “Hi, Beth.”
“Lilian, I saw the pictures on Facebook,” she said, her voice tense. “Why wasn’t I invited?”
I felt my stomach drop. I knew this conversation was coming, but I wasn’t prepared. “Oh, it was just a small trip,” I stammered. “Nothing big.”
“But I’m family,” Beth said, her voice rising. “Why didn’t you invite me?”
There it was. The question I had been dreading. I could’ve lied, made up some excuse, but what would be the point? The truth was staring me in the face, and there was no avoiding it.
“Beth,” I said softly, trying to choose my words carefully. “It’s not that we don’t want you there. It’s just… well, the walking. You’ve needed a lot of breaks, and it’s made it hard for us to enjoy the trips the way we used to.”
Silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity.
“So, you didn’t invite me because of my weight?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
I swallowed hard. “Yes,” I admitted, guilt washing over me. “It’s been difficult. We’ve had to change the way we do things, and… I didn’t want to say anything, but it’s affected our trips.”
Beth was quiet for a moment, and I could feel the hurt radiating through the phone. “I thought I was part of this family,” she finally said, her voice trembling. “I thought you cared about me.”
“I do care about you, Beth—”
“No, you don’t,” she interrupted. “If you did, you wouldn’t have excluded me like this. You wouldn’t make me feel like an outsider.”
And with that, she hung up. I sat there, staring at the phone, my heart heavy with regret.
Later that night, Liam texted me. “Mom, Beth’s really hurt. You need to apologize.”
I read the text over and over, feeling torn. Should I apologize? Was I wrong to protect this time with my daughters? I wasn’t sure anymore.
The next morning, I talked to the girls. “Do you think I was too harsh?” I asked as we sat around the kitchen table.
“No, Mom,” Evelyn said, shaking her head. “We love Beth, but it’s not fair to us either. Our trips haven’t been the same.”
Kayla nodded. “We just want to enjoy ourselves like we used to. You did the right thing.”
Their reassurance helped, but I couldn’t shake the guilt. I didn’t want to hurt Beth, but I couldn’t ignore the strain her presence had put on our trips.
I’d reached my limit. Maybe I could’ve handled it better, maybe I should’ve been kinder, but the truth was out now.
I still don’t know if I made the right decision. All I wanted was to protect the bond I had with my daughters. But now I wonder if that decision has cost me something far greater.
Do you think I handled it correctly? What would you have done in my place?
She made waves in Hollywood with her blond hair & blue eyes, but look at her now
Kathleen Turner rose to fame in the 1980s as a result of her strength and beauty; many consider her to be one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actors.
Over the years, the actress has faced numerous challenging and favorable situations, and her perseverance has carried her through them both.Kathleen Turner was raised in a home with four other children, despite her difficult past.
She and her siblings were raised in both Venezuela and London. When she was a little girl, she tragically witnessed her father’s sudden death when he was mowing the lawn of their Hampstead house.
A month following his passing, the foreign service ejected Kathleen and her family from the United Kingdom. In Springfield, Missouri, where everyone was still grieving for their father and their previous home, Turner relocated her family.
Finally, Tuner felt at peace after moving to New York to pursue an adult acting career. Her major break came when she was hired as the femme fatale in the 1981 film “Body Heat,” despite her success on stage.
Turner was offered the opportunity to co-star with Michael Douglas in the well-known “Romancing the Stone” three years after sharing the screen with William Hurt. During filming, Douglas was going through a difficult divorce from his wife Diandra, and he started to feel a connection with Turner.
We were intensely flirting and exchanging intense, yearning glances as we were falling in love. Kathleen remarked, “Then Diandra came down and reminded me he was still married.”
In the end, she wed Jay Weiss, the movie’s real estate developer, in 1984. Soon after, the couple welcomed their only daughter together. October 14, 1987, was Rachel Ann Weiss’s birthday.
Regretfully, when the couple started parenting their daughter, their relationship started to fall apart.
“I would demand extended weekends or additional passes from the film studios so that my spouse and daughter could visit me. However, I felt bad since there was a feeling in the marriage that all the work was on his end. It terminated for a few reasons, including that. I began to experience extreme oppression. Kathleen said, “I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, you’ve done very well out of being married to me also.’”
When Turner played Martha in the 2005 Broadway production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” their marital problems came to a head. Turner became incredibly busy performing in eight shows a week, and it seemed Weiss didn’t want to spend any time with her at home.
During that time, Turner was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Martha, and the two got along well.
The actress was nominated for an Oscar in 1987 for her role in “Peggy Sue Got Married.” She went on to produce several films in the 1980s, including three blockbusters starring Michael Douglas.
But in the 1990s, Kathleen experienced a medical setback when her neck locked, making it impossible for her to turn her head. Additionally, the swelling in her hands prevented her from using them.
Kathleen stated, “It was crippling.” When something is gone, even for a little while, you stop taking it for granted. What I took for granted was my athleticism, my capacity for forceful movement, and my freedom to move however I pleased. I had a genuine identity crisis when I lost that: “Who am I if I can’t do this?”
She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which is characterized by swelling of the lining of our joints, and this was the tragic reason for her circumstances. Managing chronic pain caused by this illness can be difficult.
Kathleen remarked, “When it was first diagnosed, I was terrified because they said I’d be in a wheelchair.” “I reasoned that I couldn’t act if I couldn’t move. Not everything I want to do is act. I was destined for this. It’s present throughout my entire life. The most terrifying aspect was the thought of not being able to accomplish it, together with the ongoing discomfort.
Kathleen took drugs and alcohol to ease her pain. Her habit of drinking vodka led her to faint during dress rehearsals for plays such as the 2002 stage version of “The Graduate,” even if they made her job simpler.
The actress really checked herself into rehab after the show concluded, and it was found that she was not an alcoholic. Instead, she was told to just remember to take more notes on when she took her medications and any unfavorable side effects.
The actress now does pilates and yoga to help her stay flexible and manage her discomfort.
The famous person began to focus more intently on her career in theater while also improving her pain management. As she grew older, she largely returned to her roots, even taking the lead in a stage production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in her forties, even though she still worked sometimes in film and television.
“It was a little foresight on my part of which I am justly proud, because I knew that the better roles as I got older would be in theatre, which is absolutely true,” Kathleen remarked.
By focusing on the theater, the actress has had more time to pursue her passions, which include working for Planned Parenthood of America and volunteering for Amnesty International.
For most of her life, Turner has been an ardent feminist who has devoted her life to helping other women. Gloria Feldt’s 2008 biography of the actress, Send Yourself Roses, captures her thoughts perfectly.
As women, we are the first generation to achieve financial independence. Women are returning to the workforce, stated Kathleen. They’re redefining who they are. I believed I could contribute to that, even more. It therefore contains a great deal of philosophy as well as my personal beliefs.
What are your thoughts on Kathleen Turner’s difficult yet fruitful journey? Tell us in the comments below!
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