Sunday, March 20, 2011

Best Saturday Night, Ever

Now, before I start, I just want to let everyone know I support my friends 100% while their husbands are deployed. This means listening to venting, hanging out, bringing dinner, etc. I have no problem with a little bit of the deployment blues. What I do have a problem with, is women (and men) who feel like they are the only ones in the world who have gone through a deployment and like to complain about it on a daily basis. Over the years I've run across a few of these, and in the beginning, I was understanding, but, after months of complaining and whining about their husband being gone, I had to keep myself from telling them what I really think. And, because of this, I've lost a few friends. Good news is, they weren't that great of friends to begin with. It was usually me giving, and them taking, and nothing reciprocal. Definitely not my idea of a great friendship.
Anyway, last night I stumbled across a Facebook post on a military spouse group. It said that this girl told her friend to suck it up after she had been complaining non-stop about having to have a child while her husband was deployed. Having done this, I can relate where a lot of women cannot. Most women aren't forced into that situation, and I'm glad. But, in all honesty, it wasn't that big of a deal to me. It's not like John was such a HUGE help while I was in labor the first time, and I was planning on having my best friend Andrea and my mom along my side anyway. So, yeah, I understand complaining a few times, but on a daily basis? It's not going to change the fact that you need to be a strong woman and get through the situation on your own two feet. When you marry a man in the military, you know full well going in that you're going to spend a lot of nights alone. It comes with the territory.
So, after stating my opinion on this group (which is what it's for) all sorts of women started jumping down my throat. It was hilarious. First, the were arguing my words, which is what a good ol' fashion debate is supposed to be like. And I was enjoying it. But, all too soon was this great debate over and people were throwing out words and phrases that not only had I never heard, but put a terrible taste in my mouth. I can swear like a sailor if I choose to, but, for the most part, I feel like I am more intelligent than that and can articulate a thoughtful sentence without dropping the F bomb every other word. That and the grammar was terrible. I happen to be an English nerd, so I understand not everyone enjoys putting a sentence together correctly or even knows how, but, at least take advantage of the spell check on your computer!! It's hard to ignore a word underlined in red, and even easier to click on it and choose the correct word.
After that, one girl (and then a few of her friends) decided to start attacking me personally. I guess they were running out of things to say about the topic (perhaps I had argued my point well?) and started bashing me about the sweater I had on in my profile picture. I have had numerous comments on my sweater, so, I'm really not sure what they thought was so ugly about it, but, whatever. I happen to love that sweater, and could care less what a bunch of drunken (yes, they made numerous comments about drinking Smirnoff, which is a whole other hilarious side to this thread), inarticulate, uneducated, women have to say about my appearance. I just thought it was hilarious they kept telling me I had an ugly sweater, over and over again. I actually at one point even told them that the ugly sweater comments weren't working and they should find something else to bash me on. I believe I also threw in "sweetheart." Funny thing is, that stopped the personal attacks. Ha.
Anyway, towards the end, I decided to just take the high road, and be nice, which turned the whole thread into a nice little light-hearted conversation. That's about when I left the thread, but I kept checking back on it and another girl came in and started talking smack about me and a couple of my friends who were backing me up. I decided to refrain since it would have just been far too easy to prove my point once again, but, it definitely took a little internal fortitude. I really wanted to defend myself, but I know that's exactly what they wanted. Especially when they started calling me and my friends Stepford Wives. I don't know which is funnier, that, or the ugly sweater...
So, looking back on the conversation this morning, I feel like it's something I need to print out and save because it is just too hilarious. I never stepped over the line and held myself like an adult, which is more to say about the rest of them. I have met some amazing women both on Facebook and in real life who are friends I know I can count on for anything (and have) during my military spouse career so far. It always amazes me when I find a woman who is SO much different and thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread, but, when the military hires young men and women straight out of high school, and they don't have the opportunity to really grow up, it's easy to hang on to that cattiness so many school age girls have. It's unfortunate and I hope, for their own sake, they learn to mature in a way that will bring them happiness in life. Because, we all know, it's those catty girls that are attacking others to make up for their own short comings.

3 comments:

  1. wonderful perspective love the writing...Daniel

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  2. Thanks Daniel! I really appreciate it. :)

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  3. I have found it isn't even worth my time to deal with the women like that. There are way to many of them in the military world. It is pretty sad all they could come up with is a sweater just shows how uneducated and low self esteem they have about them selfs. Just be thankful for your upbringing and your education! It will make you go farther in life. And that kind of girl will always be stuck in high school cattiness. By the way I am making your Apple Cranberry Pie! Can't wait for it to come out of the oven. Thanks for all the great recipes.

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