Ladies Night Out: Year 27

The Enigma That Is Me: January 2005


I know an unusally large number of single women. I don't know if that says more about me, them, or the men in our lives. (and by "men in our lives" I am being generous and including anyone who might possibly walk by)

When I was growing up, I didn't get boys at all (and by that I mean understand boys-- but to be honest, I didn't GET them either, so read it however you want). I didn't really understand why they liked to pretend to shoot each other. I never understood why taping our dog's ears together was a riotous good time. And I really never understood why they were mean to both the girls they liked and didn't like-- and we were supposed to somehow be able to tell the difference.

As I got older and started to believe that I did, in fact, know EVERYTHING-- I thought I had boys pretty well figured out. They liked to pretend to shoot each other because it made them feel adventerous. They liked to tape the dog's ears together because it made them feel powerful. And they were mean to the girls they didn't like to try and get a laugh out of the girls they did. Those were the keys-- Adventure, Power, and Laughter. Basically? It all boiled down to the fact that boys were attention whores.

Now I'm back in the camp of not understanding the boys who are now men (or at least should be, but that's another post for another day). Are they still attention whores? Well, some of them are. But then-- some of my female friends are as well. Do they like adventure? Some of them do.

But what I didn't understand until more recently is that some of them would much rather have the semblance of adventure than a real one-- and that's something a lot of us have in common at one point or another.

I suppose I should find the common ground reassuring, but I don't.