I wonder sometimes...
How hard it must be to be pretty.
That's not facetious, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek.
It must be. Hard, that is.
To have never had the need to develop beyond what people see until it, somehow, fails you. When the clothes, the face, the hair, the shoes are not enough to garner the attention necessary to reassure you that you are, in fact, all that...
and a bag of chips.
When you are pushed aside in a group of people who think what's hot is the ability to hold an intelligent conversation...whose hard ons are mass-produced by wit not what you wear or do not wear beneath that skirt.
But!
Never fear.
It's only a matter of time before each and every one catches a whiff of you sitting there...alone and "vulnerable"...in the trap of manipulation you've carefully laid. All it takes is one - just one - single, solitary tear.
Until you're 40, that is, and gravity has had its laugh, peri-menopause has set in, and the battle of time has waged war and won.
What will you do then?
Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl
But that was 30 years ago, when they used to have a show
Now it's a disco, but not for Lola
Still in the dress she used to wear, faded feathers in her hair
She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half-blind
She lost her youth and she lost her Tony
Now she's lost her mind!
5 comments:
At the Copa....Copa Cabana......
You said it well. I grew up an ugly duckling with a great GPA. Then as I started college, I got skinny, lost the glasses and frizzy hair, learned about makeup and fashion, etc. and suddenly had a number of competing gentlemen friends. A couple of frat-boys, even, who most assuredly didn't care about my standardized test scores. Or anything really, except getting me another drink. Total novelty. And completely stressful. For awhile, I was terrified that one day I would make a mistake. I got tired of getting up at 5am to pick the most flattering outfit, put on makeup, style my hair, etc. I never had to do all that crap before. I was afraid that if I stopped, though, one day someone would look at me critically and say, "She used to be really pretty and now she's (old, fat, unkempt, wearing comfortable clothes, not so pretty without the makeup, etc)."
I got past it, with some serious navel-gazing. In part, getting past it was because I've always been friends with geeks, nerds, and innovators, I have strong examples of truly powerful women whose looks are secondary to their abilities and creativity. Empty girls make really boring friends.
"Empty girls make really boring friends."
Amen, Kate. Amen.
I should mention that although my geek/nerd cred is not as impressive as most, I still identify as one ;)
this is because i was working the blonde the other night, isn't it.
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