Girl World

I was having a very candid conversation with a young woman that I care for more than my own life last night. I was left feeling pretty angry. No, she didn't make me angry, but, every other girl that she ever knew did.

Okay, not every girl. Just the ones who, through their own Machvellian machinations, made her feel less than. The ones who couldn't just quietly go about their existence without making her feel bad about who she was.

The movie "Mean Girls" was based on a book by Rosalind Wiseman entitled "Queen Bees and Wannabes". I own this book and have been enlightened to the phenomenon of Girl World yet, at the same time, infuriated by it. I had always thought that as a fellow sufferer, I could somehow change my own daughter's experience in the world because I was so aware of it.

Turns out, I couldn't and I didn't. Those same girls found their way to make my own daughter's life a living hell and change everything that I had tried to teach her about who she was and is. I HATE those girls!!! Yes, I said hate. I mean it.

I was made fun of for just about everything you can imagine from a very young age. It is easy to see where if you hear this daily, you would come to believe that it somehow must be true. ie..."Mom tells me I'm beautiful, but all of these girls say I'm ugly and make fun of me, so Mom must be lying."

I know that my daughter has gone through some very ugly experiences in her short life. I, too, have gone through very ugly experiences. The question is, how do you reconcile what has happened and still come out okay? How do you get to the other side when people judge you when your response isn't what they would have chosen? Or they think you should just "get over it"?

Please pause while I step up on my soapbox. To all of you who escaped a childhood unmarked by trauma, goodie for you!!! I'm sure there is a medal in it for you somewhere. To the rest of you, shame on you. SHAME on you! Moms, stay plugged in. You may think as your children get older that they need you less, they don't. It's a pack of rabid, wild dogs out there and if you're not careful, someone's going to get hurt.

A jury of your peers

I received a jury summons last month. I was all set to go and do my civic duty, but, at last minute it was decided I was not needed after all.

I got to thinking about this. What if the jury was made up of family members?

Let's just say, you, for instance was the respondant in the case. The defendant was, say, your spouse. If that jury was made up of the defendant's family, they would get off scott free every time.

You would know at the beginning of the trial that you were doomed. This is probably where the phrase, "jury of your peers" came from. It's not jury of your family, or jury of your friends. Peers are just random people with driver's licenses who win the luck of the draw.

Wicked Witch of the West

Yes, this would be me.

I have a certain philosophy that I have carried with me throughout my life. Call me tainted by my upbringing or slightly odd, but there is no grey. I see things as black or white. There is no grey area. For instance, for the next three days, they are slurry sealing the streets in my neighborhood. Everyone in the 'hood had a notice placed upon our door informing us not to park on the street between the hours of 7:00am to 5:00pm on these three days, or we would be towed at our expense.

The big ole slurry seal machine just went down the side of the street that my house is on. Guess what? Three doors down, there are not one, but two cars sitting there unmoved! Further, guess what!? The machine went around them!!! Is it bad that I want those cars towed, and towed NOW? Is it bad that I want to be standing right there as your cars are being towed and laughing maniacally?

See what I mean? What is grey about being told that if you didn't move your vehicle, it would be moved for you? Am I the ONLY person who has to suffer consequences when I choose the wrong thing?



I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!