It is like this, …it’s Girl Power and in our home, we rule…there is Momma, Charlie, Gen and me of course….oh, and Ruby, the Incredibly Wide Eyed Monkey…I think, because she is wearing a decidedly pink, frilly dress….but let’s not tell our Testosterone Toms, Bad Boy Andy, Clem-Kadiddle-Hopper or our Wonder Boy.
Now, long before today’s feminists shattered, nay broke that glass ceiling, (You Go.. Hillary… We’re so proud of you, We’re so Proud of You), there were homes, school yards, universities, workplaces where women were surreptitiously changing the balance of power as boys climbed trees, played war games and beat each other up, just for, the just for…
Momma does not lay claim to be being the first generation to push the envelope. No, Grandmama could have run the world, one hand tied behind her back, according to Momma. She was so strong and ferocious.
More importantly, Momma learned a lot, (the most) from her older sisters, who it was hard to best. They may beat on you one day, but would die on a cross for you the next. They laughed with you and cried with you…and above all they were loyal, taking secrets to their graves that could have seen you grounded for life. Still, don’t get us wrong. And…it is not like Momma didn’t like the X Y chromosome gender. Momma adored her beloved esoteric father.
Her Big Bro’ was totally amazing and Cousin Buddy was so cool, her BFF, if there had been such a thing in the day….
Yet in the late sixties the eastern world…it was exploding, … and maybe it started on the play ground in the 1950’s. In Momma’s day, there was no kindergarten. You learned to color, cut and paste at home and got right down to the serious business of reading, writing and arithmetic in Grade One. Pity the poor little boys, who had problems just sitting still. Of course, the girls did better, read first, got the hang of 1,2,3 easily…and always were the teachers pets. It was a No Brainer. As in all settings, in all corners of the world, the cream rose to the top, so La Crème–de–La Crème Society was born, then bonded in a tight-knit clique and no surprise, no boys need apply.
Mean girls, give me a break…they have been around a long time, even in (especially in) bucolic country settings. It is not like La Crème–de–La Crème Society especially went out of their way to terrorize the six boys in a class of twenty-seven but to the members, they were so pathetic….one little guy wore his snow pants summer and winter, making a swishing noise every step he took, another one would cry when the teacher asked him a question, another, through no fault of his own, looked just like his nerdy forty-five year old father, which was so scary in a six-year-old and so one and so on. As one of the respected members of La Crème–de–La Crème Society, Momma said it was so easy to judge, and never a challenge to find imperfections.
La Crème–de–La Crème Society were a tight-knit, yet diverse group who swore no allegiance, made no blood pacts, were never BFF’s, yet seamlessly continued the ground work for girls worldwide to radically transform from caterpillars to butterflies. They ran the relay race and passed on the baton, laying the groundwork for a more equal tomorrow.
So Little Sister Millennials, keep the ball rolling, do your part…but don’t kid yourself…We didn’t start the fire…it was always burning since the world was turning (Billy Joel)….. Remember, I mean like, who can forget… Queen Boudicca, Emeline Pankhurst, Sister Teresa? (Check them out!!)
PS: Oh, one last thing Momma asks on behalf of La Crème–de–La Crème Society for all the boys who suffered them, like a Justin Bieber song…. ‘Is It Too Late Now To Say Sorry?’
