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" The women in my family have a tradition we hold dear.  This is the Mingles Meeting. The Mingles are a mixed breed, like Labradoodles. The genealogy goes like this: We were born of two women&amp;#039;s card groups, the Jingles and the Meanies. All of us &amp;quot;young &amp;#039;uns&amp;quot; \u2013\u2013ha ha, we&amp;#039;re 60\u2013\u2013has a grandmother who was a Jingle or a Meanie. One group of sisters has one grandmother who was a Meanie and one grandmother, a Jingle. I know this is confusing. Just wanted you to know a Mingle from a hole in the ground. Our mothers are the daughters of the Meanies and the Jingles. Last night we had a meeting and a Mingle was missing. True daughter of a Jingle, Mom was, naturally, home in bed. I am not maudlin about Mom missing this Mingle meeting. She was happy with Sixty Minutes with her electric blanket on. The particulars of our Mingles group don&amp;#039;t really matter. I know groups like ours exist in various versions all over the world. The female family unit. Women knit the safety net. Women carry on. What good it does a heart when you can gather around the table, understanding reference and nuance and roots. It is a mighty special bond.  D.G. Fulford is the author of Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years with Mom, written with her mother Phyllis Greene. She is also the co-founder of TheRememberingSite.org. You can find her at DGFulford.com.  Photo credit: Marcia Smilack "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a44558/missing-mingle-1410/>