Bitch, please...

I have been somewhat dismayed as of late

with members of my gender and their behavior.

When did it become okay to be a bitch?

When did it become acceptable to be mean girls...

as adults?

 I am at a loss.

I have heard things and witnessed things recently that make me ashamed to be

female.

And I am not talking about the crap on TV like Real Housewives.

This is stuff that happens every day without any cameras rolling for effect.

I have many female friends who are lovely, kind, compassionate

human beings.

Women who go out of their way to be nice,

who are the first to help out a friend and who live the golden rule.

These women inspire me to be a better woman.

A better person.

So I know it is not every woman, and I am not trying to make a sweeping generalization,

but, if you would allow me to take a few minutes to

...bitch about bitches

I would like to get something off my chest...

NO

it is not okay to belittle, demean,, back stab and complain about other women

because you feel that bad about yourself.

NO

it is not okay to spread hurtful gossip just because it gives you something to talk about

and you think it makes you sound interesting.

NO

it is not okay to act like a spoiled 14 year old when you are 44.

YOU. ARE. FORTY FOUR.

NO.

It is not okay to take out your personal insecurities on other women, men or children,

for God's sake.

AND NO...

it is not okay to use social media to passively-aggressively

work out your issues with other women.

Stop "unfriending" and "blocking"

Stop posting sarcastic quotes and having little inside jokes online with the rest of

your witchy friends.

Stop texting your grievances, stop bullying and badgering.

Stop acting like you are entitled. Stop assuming.

Stop being righteous and pompous and rude.

JUST STOP.

Enough all ready.

You are making us all look bad.

We all do enough damage to our own egos on a daily basis.

We don't need your help destroying them any further.

And, frankly, it is hard enough to raise a daughter and get her through her teen

years unscathed, that I really don't want her to think she is going to have to 

put up with this crap her whole life.

So...

if you are a bitch.

Or have been bitchy to someone

(except, of course, during a certain time of the month when, let's be honest, some of it just can't be helped but is usually reserved for our husbands...poor guys)

KNOCK. THAT. SHIT. OFF.

Do me a favor...

Read the Prayer of St. Francis.

Aspire to live in a way that assumes we are all struggling and all could use

a kind word, the benefit of the doubt, and 

some general compassion now and then.

Lift up other women and show our daughters that as a gender,

we can be the strongest force in the universe

when we use our power for good instead of evil.

And the next time you are the target for some 

she-dragon spewing fire

say a little prayer for her soul.

She must hate herself something awful,

to be spreading so much toxic energy.

She needs as much love as you do, and probably more.

Steer clear of her path, for sure,

but send her blessings from afar.

And last, but by God, not least...

look yourself in the mirror and make friends with that girl.

She needs you and you need her.

And maybe if you are best friends with her, you won't feel so alone 

and ready to do battle with the rest of our half of the 

human race.

okay...I'm done bitching.

Busy Signal

So...

I haven't blogged in awhile.  A long while.

I took the summer off.

Had good intentions, but summer got in the way.

Well...vacations, driving children, camps, pool time etc.

And then came August. And September.

And...what the hell!!

One kid in high school, one in middle school,

one "part time" gig that kind of took over,

a husband running for county office,

a house on the market

and...

I am being punished for my summer of fun.

SO here I sit with nothing of importance on my mind

except that I am tired.

And sniffly (allergies...baaaad allergies)

I am not trying to wear my worn out like a badge of honor,

because, frankly, we are all that way.

We are all tired,

We are all a little bit sick, or stuffy.

We are all frazzled and wondering why we do this to ourselves

yet have no idea how to stop.

It is the norm.

And I don't think it it going to get better in our lifetime.

Our kids don't know any different, so maybe we are just that 

in between generation.

The generation who is still looking around ourselves like

"what happened?"

The generation who grew up without cell phones, computers and

call waiting and answering machines.

If you called and got a busy signal, you had to waaaaaiiiitttt

to call back and hope they were still home when you did.

Remember that feeling when you kept dialing and getting that annoying busy tone? Agonizing!

We are the confused and teensy bit resentful crew.

The ones who love the convenience of our "time saving" devices,

but who can't understand why our children have no patience or ability to plan and think ahead more than 15 minutes.

When have they ever had to? 

When has everything not been right at their little fingertips and happening in real time?

In high school, we actually had to make a plan at the school for weekend activities...when we actually saw our friends face to face because we would have to call their house after school, and unless they had a teen line, chances were that we weren't getting through.

Or we drove around on the weekend until we found someone out doing the same thing we were...sometimes that took hours. 

But we were perfectly content to hang in there and wait in case

something came up.

 So do we give it up and quit complaining about this frenzied

life pace. Keep up the race pace and just hope we don't puke right before the finish line,

or do we try to buck the trend and slow it way down.

There just are not enough hours in the day to do everything we have to do, let alone everything we want to do,

so why try?

Just do what we can and the rest be damned.

Yep...I feel like doing that every day.

Will it ever happen?

Not a chance.