Girls

A recent conversation with my eldest went something like this:

Me: Where should we go when your sister comes to visit this summer?
Her: Paris!
Me: Why would Toni fly all the way to America from Germany just to turn around and fly back to France, which is right next to Germany? Besides, I can't afford to fly 5 people to Paris, it's too expensive.
Her: Then let's go to Florida.
Me: Um, think locally dear. No place that requires an airplane.
Her (getting upset): Well there's nothing to do around here! (I have to give her this one)
Me: We could go to Chicago.
Her (disgust dripping off her tongue): Chicago?! What's in Chicago?
Me: Well, the American Girl store is in Chicago. They have lots of cool stuff for your dolls, there is even a restaurant where you can eat with your dolls.
Her (voice full of sarcasm more appropriate for a girl 10 years older): Uh, eating in a restaurant with your doll is so five-years old.

At this point she's pissed and I'm annoyed. We walk into the house and my husband, noticing the mood asks "what's wrong?". I reply, "she's mad at me". She screams like a banshee, "I AM NOT MAD!" and races upstairs to her room, slams the door and, I presume, throws herself on her bed. If she had a cell phone she'd be calling her BFF to tell her how her parents just "don't understand her" and we are "so unfair".

I tell ya, girls can be lovely, and honestly I much prefer them to boys, but they(we) are so high-strung! It's like we live on the edge of our skin, and the slightest disturbance can knock us off balance. Girls are so changeable, so sensitive, so perceptive and so easily pissed off. I have so many memories of behaving exactly like this, oh the drama. And to be honest I still have my moments. I know these sound like stereo-types, and perhaps it's not all girls (and women) but just me and mine? Although I've noticed many of the same behaviors in my girl scouts. Perhaps it's socialization, perhaps it's a hormonal change occurring at this age (eight-nine), maybe it's learned behavior from older female role models and moms (ya think?!) but many of them have become such little smart-asses! They can be so sarcastic, and they are all terribly impressed with their own wit. Oh, wait, that's me again isn't it?

I fear I have a very intense journey ahead of me the next few years. Hell, maybe the rest of my life, if my daughters follow too closely in my footsteps. It's draining, and frustrating, yet funny to (oh WHAT-ever Girl!). Sounds like... life.