I'm a girl's girl. I've always loved the company of nurturing, supportive women - epecially my girlfriends. The older I get, the more I treasure these friendships. So important are these women, that they now carry titles like God-Mother (Tammy), Uber-Artiste (Emily), The Hostess (w/ the mostest, Kim), Wonder Woman (Neki), and my Beloved Charmonster (Charlotte - can't begin to describe her in such a small space - must devote an entire post to her one day). I love to brag about my beautiful, talented, generous girlfriends whenever I can - so I find it pretty hard to stomach some of the jr. high school behavior amongst "friends" that I witness (fairly consistantly) at the store.
It wouldn't be so offensive if say the gals guilty of said behavior WERE in jr. high, but these are women - GROWN women in their 30's and 40's, whom I would venture to say went to college and did not hitch their homes to a truck (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Anyhow, one scenario goes something like this:
Group of 4 gals comes in. Gal #1 is the Queen Bee, Gal #2 Lady in Waiting, Gal #3 Worker Bee, and Gal #4 Dog Poop. Queen Bee tries on dress and her 3 friends bow down to worship the Goddess in all her glory. Even I have to admit, the dress looks pretty stunning on her. Worker Bee and Poopsie both try on dresses and #2 snickers and whispers something in Queenie's ear. Queen then tells Worker Bee that she can do better then turns to Dog Poop and tells her that the dress makes her hips look big. Dog Poop just agrees with her mistress and nervously laughs it off. Queen Bee throws down her Black AMEX and re-applies her Chanel lipgloss.
I wanted to kick her....out of the store. And I wanted to slap #4 and tell her not to be such a doormat. Of course I don't - retail is a tough gig these days (my girlfriend Patty tells me I should've charged her double because it would've made her feel even more important in front of her friends - of course I don't, but wish I could).
I couldn't imagine any of my girls uttering one nasty thing behind my back. To my face, that's a different thing, and when it happens I most definitely deserve it. But seriously, we celebrate each other - within our circle and outside to those that may not know us as well. The word "brilliant" is probably thrown around too loosely but we mean it and that is how we often describe our girlfriends, with that single adjective.
I'm trying to figure out whether it is suburban life or just 21st century society that brings out this catty female I've encountered way too often as of late. A society where Kim Kardashian becomes an icon for leaking a sex tape and the Real Housewives draw in millions of viewers with their trash talking and table flipping. What happened to female unity and trying to build each other up? All I've noticed of late, is that women continue to exploit themselves for their 5 minutes of fame hoping to land a big payday at the expense of her best friend, sister or even mother.
To those women, especially you, Ms. Queen Bee, I quote Medeleine Albright:
There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.
And in my own words (for all my agnostic and atheist gals):
Mean girls are ugly.
