Ah, Girls Night Out! We Wow ladies went out last night for dinner and a movie and it was wonderful. It's so interesting how each gathering is different, as each time there is a slightly different group of ladies attending and the picture we create is uniquely us. Just as relationships should be, we learn a little more about each other each time we meet. One of the ladies has had a rough week, working hard and dealing with issues in her condominium community, but feeling empowered by taking action. Another is dealing with health and finance issues, but still manages to smile and hope for the best. Another has a son who teaches at a college where there was recently a shooting, and we all could feel the anxiety she must have felt waiting for news. Another just returned from a snow weekend with the kids and had a great time, but realizes again the need to take time just for herself. And we learned, for the first time, that one of the ladies had been shot by a boyfriend and spent five long months recovering in a hospital, being fed intravenously and dreaming of Pina Coladas on a beach. A lovely, warm group of ladies who shared and laughed and uplifted each other, something we women just naturally do.
The movie was "Penelope" and I was a bit perplexed about what to write about it. For sure, it was a delightfully whimsical fairy tale about a girl born with a pig's nose, brought on by an old family curse. (Many generations ago, a male relative had gotten a washgirl pregnant but married a blue blood, and the curse was put on a future girl baby in the family by the pregnant woman's witch mother.) So our heroine, the lovely and talented Christina Ricci, lives with the facial deformity, sequestered in her house by her mother, and has to endure scores of men brought to be her husband but who run from the sight of her face. Of course, there is a Prince Charming (the amazingly sexy James McAvoy) and I can't tell you more details so I don't spoil the twists and turns.
It was fun to watch, really fun, but there is so much more to the story in terms of morals and values and meaning. Such as some people see only our outsides, but we have riches of personality and character below the surface. Some people respond positively to our differences, knowing that it brings spice and even joy to their lives. And we need to love ourselves, really acknowledge who we are and love ourselves. Curses, as in life's difficulties today, can only affect us by how we view them. There was lots of food for thought in such a fanciful story.
But I asked the ladies what really should I write about the story, what really did we learn or gain from watching it? Being a fairy tale where the handsome prince rescues the lady is one of the things we learned as little girls and has haunted some of our adult relationships, how a real man can't measure up to that fantasy. Imagine being kissed by the scraggly, but immensely sexy James McAvoy who finally brings true love? You get the picture. But my very wise and beautiful curly-haired daughter, who joined us for the evening, said that it's that life is tough and having a few hours of watching a hopeful and joyful film is really a delightful break from reality, that we need time away from our daily issues to restore our spirits. For me, an evening with my women friends is a sure way to accomplish that, every time.
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