Tweens in the Minivan

Today I packed four third grade girls into my van and took them on a field trip.

They were cracking me up. Sitting in the drivers' seat while the girls chatted behind me made me feel like Dian Fossey. Instead of Gorillas in the Mist I was starring in Tweens in the Minivan.

I felt like a foreigner observing a strange society because my daughter is so different at home with me. She is pretty disconnected from the social scene. Plus, their conversations were so different form the ones I had when I was eight.

Oh sure, they talked about horses and boys. But they also talked about juvenile detention.

They are both more sophisticated yet more sheltered that my peers and I were at the same age. We live in such different times.

And then there is the laughing and screaming. Why do girls have to laugh and scream so much? Man, you get a bunch of our girls together and loudness ensues.

After we dropped them off, some of the moms and I went out for lunch. We too talked about horses and boys. We also talked quite a bit about our girls and how difficult it can be growing up.

As we sat at our corner table talking and laughing I realized how the rest of the world melted away. We were like a society onto ourselves. A loud society.

We were nothing more than our own girls fast forward a couple of decades or three. Oh sure, we're past those difficult girl years of competition and backstabbing. But at the core, we're just the same. We're girls looking for other people who will accept as as ourselves.

And then there is the laughing and screaming. Why do girls have to laugh and scream so much? Man, you get a bunch of us girls together and loudness ensues.