Well, I guess it was bound to happen. There I was, reading an e-mail from a friend about how he and his wife, a few days before, had been sitting curled up on the sofa watching “Knocked Up,” when they suddenly realized it was their wedding anniversary.

Under a crushing book deadline, I’ve noticed I’ve gotten a wee bit lax about a few things. Along with the multiplying dust bunnies in every corner, too many take-out dinners, and the piling up of unpaid bills and unread magazines, there’s been a slight relaxation of our family “screen time” rules. I can’t entirely blame this on my book deadline.

I have sons, which shields me from some of the oddities of the young female set. Not to say that boys don’t have their own sets of peculiarities. But as the mother of boys, there are a few things I just don’t have to deal with. I know, I’m a girl, but there are some things I’m glad I don’t have to deal with. For instance, boys generally don’t have to change into new outfits several times a day.

My oldest son Edison, who is now sixteen, was invited to stay for a few days with a friend, whose parents live on a vineyard in Napa Valley. We live in Los Angeles. So I checked Amtrak, and found a not-too-circuitous route involving an Amtrak bus, a train, and another bus. It seemed like just the right kind of adventure for a 16 year-old.

Marriages are crumbling around me. Two friends of mine, within a year of one another, left their husbands for other men. Another married friend of mine admitted--with not a lot of compunction--that he’s had a girlfriend for years, and sorta can’t wait until his youngest child (age 12) leaves for college so he can divorce his wife.