I was thinking about posting much the same thing yesterday. I’m another who doesn’t post much but who reads regularly. I value those who are still here, but I miss some of those who seem to have left.
Singing–choral, impossible now
Swimming–actually water aerobics, the pool is still closed
Sewing–clothing construction, quilting, home dec
Making–whatever anyone is into. Love to hear about what people do with their own hands.
College search
House/real estate stuff
Travel
Purdue
Engineering
hate the chance me threads.
Emotional support for each other in some way would be good, too. Not sure how to do that with a thread.
There are some things that I’m personally interested in but I don’t keep up with.
One being fitness, I don’t keep up with it
Dressing young, it might be the one I will always read a new post in
Food, I’m interested but don’t keep up with the topic
@coralbrook home remodeling, very interesting
I love a personal conflict lol!
Any travel topics, even though we don’t travel much, I love to follow along.
I love when it’s just people being real and sharing. And I love a great meandering thread where the topic changes and grows. I don’t feel that everything has to stay on topic.
Mostly I just love learning new things to me. And there is always something new to learn here
I wanted to add that when the ADA started, how much I learned and how incredibly helpful the posters here were. Especially @calmom
I am aware that some things got heated in a few posts but I honestly did not connect that to the lack of activity here.
I echo what others have said that most of the posters here are very articulate and make well thought-out comments and I really like that. Nothing turns me off more than abysmal grammar/vocabulary, uninformed, snarky or unhelpful forums (in fact I would not stick around).
I enjoy the various fashion threads, even if I am not a huge fashionista. I do appreciate the personal dilemma/asking for advice threads because people seem genuinely helpful and not snarky. I also think many of y’all have wicked, clever senses of humor and I like that!
THis is the third forum over many years that I got “attached” to members. The first was a SAHM type place that got taken over and sold. The next was ostensibly a food/cooking forum and the management told us with one day notice (as I recall) that they were closing the community so there was a scramble to copy down recipes and so forth, but I miss the voices I had gotten to know there.
I have struggled through the various “upgrades” here. I often find myself thinking of a particular person and then check their profile and they have not logged in since 2016 or something. Hopefully we dedicated fans can continue on here.
@surfcity omg one day warning that is awful!
I also love what @deb922 mentioned about a personal conflict. I do enjoy those threads very much and do in the end think there is a lot of good advice!
In case anyone can’t figure it out from my avatar, I love travel. We’re also very pro-planet (green!) and our travels reflect that preferring nature to cities. Scuba/snorkeling are also loves. The world is my home. The US is my passport.
Lately I’ve been keeping up on some medical things - from healthy living (Blue Zones) to Covid. I deal with a brain tumor, so that likely pushed health to a higher level in my mind.
I enjoy learning about new things from the rambling “life” threads (similar to this one).
I’m definitely not the go-to person for fashion, sports, or Hollywood. We watch some TV/movies, but are just as likely to pick something like Aerial Africa as a sit-com for evening entertainment. My favorite channel is probably the Smithsonian Channel.
If playing 3 truths and a lie, one of the truths is I’ve never watched a Super Bowl. 
Books
House stuff
Money/retirement
Food/cooking
Weddings
The things listed above are reminding me of all the great threads we have - we just need to keep them active!
I don’t post often, but have come to rely on all of you for insightful comments, advice and varied perspectives. I hope to see that continue on current and future threads. Thank you to all of you for sharing your lives and expertise here!
Something that I’ve enjoyed from this Parents Cafe forum is the diversity of thought. I’m assuming most of us are middle-aged moms in our 50s, but we are so different, and I love the way that challenges my thinking. One recent topic was the reaction to a Bible verse on an egg carton. I found the different perspectives fascinating. In real life, I think I am mostly surrounded by people who think like me, so I love learning from others who have opposing opinions.
I like the Big Life Events threads like weddings or retirement or aging parents. I don’t read them all, but when I hit one of those big life events, I scroll through for guidance.
I also like when you all ask about some new problem or observe some new phenomenon. Hmm, like a few years ago asking what do I do if I drop my phone in the toilet or are leggings pants.
My 5 areas of interest:
-Entertainment (Binge thread, Best Books, Movies) Have gotten lots of great
recommendations from these threads…has helped with quarantine time!
- Bag a Week, Good Buys (although this has been costly to me
) - @coralbrook’s series. Downtime between her projects is such a bummer…
- Cooking/food/Instant pot, etc. Lots of inspiration and fab recipes!
- Aging threads: Parents Caring, Retirement, Social Security, Medicare.
As I’m moving into this era of life, these threads have So Much Info!
Bonus picks: - Wedding thread
- and of course, Sinner’s Alley!
I like the folks I’ve met here on Parent Cafe. I find fights tiring and don’t have the energy for them—in person or virtually.
I like food—for now it’s mostly cooking at home, sometimes with the instant pot.
Previously, we loved dining out. With covid-19, we sometimes do takeout and have only dined in twice since March (when our state was having single digit new cases).
I am learning the joys of online movies this pandemic—rarely ever watched before.
I also enjoy books—currently finishing everything the library has written by Dorothy Sayers.
Had loved travel, especially spending time with family and friends and national parks and new places to dine.
I also love babies and young people—fascinating to me!
I’ve enjoyed the cafe for years. I like most of the threads others mention. My top topics include:
shows to watch (much moreso during covid)
personal dilemmas–requests for suggestions
Products I can’t live without
Home/decorating/remodeling
Travel (moreso not during covid)
good deals
Mostly, I like to learn about new things, figure out how to solve problems and improve things (whether it’s how to live a more environmentally friendly life, watch a show I hadn’t previously known about, solve a problem in my home, learn about a new way to volunteer, etc.).
Slower. Definitely.
My favorite thing about CC is the kids ho ask, then listen and get it. Fewer of them around.
Much as I love the cooking threads, don’t you think we have a lot of non college discussions started? I’m not referring to advice, but (to pick one I haven’t seen,) the equivalent of what’s your favorite dog?
In this covid time, I think we all need to reach out, to save our spirits. I’ve got more contact with some peripheral friends, we need it. But at the same time, others have retreated. It’s confusing, at best.
@lookingforward I’m confused what you’re saying in your middle paragraph. Are you saying we already cover the gamut of what needs to be covered in the cafe?? They are largely non-college discussions - because it’s the cafe.
People are welcome to post college type PARENT questions/threads here. Like usually there is a thread this time of year for college drop off - or what to pack or not to pack. Didn’t have that this year on the cafe anyway!
I’m sorry I’ve been so absent the last 2 months. I’ve been working on my Poshmark closet and having the best time. It literally is all consuming. However, I’m getting to the point where I won’t invest anymore money and will have to just sit and wait for sales, and buy more randomly rather than what I have been doing.
It’s more work than I ever imagined.
This week we would have been leaving for Italy. I’m a little blue, but then feel guilty for all the horrific deaths and devastation out west.
Our anniversary is in a few weeks. DH talks of flying somewhere, but it really scares me still. I read the chances of getting covid are 1 in 7300 on a plane (wearing a mask). Those odds are even better with middle seat empty and a face shield, too. That’s the only way I’d do it, but I would rather not. Thinning of Chicago, because we can drive it easily and hopefully it’s warm enough to eat outdoors. But there’s always that chance. I hate not being able to travel pre-covid. I’d also like to try Nashville, but DH seems lukewarm about it. Never been.
Definitely slower. And the music forum has almost no activity at all. It can be hard to find, but the lack of posts also reflects what is going on with music during COVID.
For many years I only looked at the parents’ and music forum and never the cafe. Those were the forums where I felt I could sometimes at least try to be helpful.
In the last two years or so I have been on the cafe, mainly due to an elderly parent. So the cafe is more of a case where the forum is helpful to me.