Rich White Girl Problems

On Friday afternoon, I was on the computer, doing what I do--dipping into your stories, commenting, mulling over my own daily overshare. The normal stuff.

And then. rather suddenly,  I lost my "w." It plumb popped off my keyboard, and despite my best efforts, the key was worthless.

I soldiered on, figuring that there were plenty of synonyms out there. I could substitute. I could be creative. It was just a mental challenge, courtesy of Dell and The Universe. No biggie.

Five minutes in, I realized that I use the word "awesome" a lot. Like, all the time. I also say "wonderful" with surprising frequency. I was lost without my "w," a consonant I had never before considered important. More important than "x" perhaps, but certainly not the game-changer of letters.

I hit my Waterloo when Salt asked a general question about our Blog Titles/Names. I simply could not discuss the meaning behind "Away We Go," because I couldn't write it. HORRORS! (By the way, it's a statement on how life goes in random directions. You can either fight the tide or just smile, release, and say, "Away We Go!"

So, yes, this was quite the serious problem. I told Paul we needed a new computer immediately---we could always harvest from our Money Shrubbery, after all. 

He gently suggested an alternative. Ten dollars later, we have this workable, if not elegant solution:

In other Rich White Girl Problems, I was standing in my bathroom yesterday, and found myself thinking, "If I just lost a little more weight, the bones in my chest would stick out."

What's that all about?

I know this isn't attractive. This is too thin and it is sickly and dangerous. I know the pernicious nature of eating disorders.

And yet, the thought was there. It came from somewhere.

I thought about it again after reading Frank Bruni's Born Round, an engaging memoir about his rocky relationship with food. He commented he and his sister struggled with weight much more than his two brothers. He suggested that this preoccupation might have been connected to the fact that he and his sister are both attracted to men.

I thought that was really interesting. I wonder if lesbian women have less body issues? Does it go away because the male ideal is out of the picture?

Is our society still that patriarchal? Or do women do this to each other?

Or is this just one guy's opinion?

For my final rich white girl problem, let me share this: my red highlights are fading way too fast because I've been swimming in my friend's swimming pools.

Life is a struggle, indeed.