Significant Upgrade

Yeah, we all know that March comes in like a Lion.

Y’all didn’t need to dump six inches of medium-wet fluff on us on the first Monday of the month.

Special thanks to the Winslow Township Department of Public Works with implementing an environmentally-friendly, thermo-nuclear, super-low-cost, and “everything-else-that-you-can-measure”-zero-sum, snow removal system … “We’ll wait ‘til the sun comes out, and the ice will melt.”

Yeah, that’s great … and would probably work for normal people who only have to worry about where to drive. Oh, and everyone down here has AWD anyway.

So …

I was stuck in for a couple of days.

I don’t do “stuck in” well. I’m the guy who goes out “whatever” I’m the guy who watches The Weather Channel looking for challenges.

I’m Nigh Indestructible.

In a moment of self-loathing I reached out to my best and most dependable friend.

She chilled me out; as she always does. I knew I could count on her.

Then, came an unexpected bonus.

“I talk to you more than anyone. Except ‘Lady A,’ ‘Lady B,’ ‘Lady C’ and of course ‘Tu Gemela’”

Wait … You mean … I’m … “One of The Girls?!!!!"

[big goofy grin]

It’s about time. I'm just so much more comfortable and at ease around them, more like myself. Sure I can be a flirt and a show-off; but I'm not competing for Alpha Dog-ness. I'm more accepted as myself.

Ever since Middle School, I’ve kind of been “one the girls.” I sat with them at lunch, studied with them, took the ‘girly sports’ in gym [lacrosse and field hockey]. Not in any sort of gender-identification difficulty way; just that they were more fun, smarter and way better to look at then dorky teenage boys. At first, it may have been because [with the difficulty I had adjusting to New Jersey] I was more than a little bit intimidated by the boys’ cliques. One girl, who I met right away, shared a Halloween birthday with me, so I had one friend I had one thing in common with.

From there, the circle grew.

Into High School and then College, pretty much the same; maybe a 60-40 mix of girl friends to guys.

When I entered the workplace, it was High School again. I worked for men, but made friends with women so much easier. The owner at the Ad Agency was a woman, as were the Sales Reps, techs and many of the Clients’ reps, too. My first manager at Lockheed … yep.

My coach is a girl and, in turn, I’m coaching my cousin, Sharon [in a very much “do as I say, not as I do” way]. My friend, TraceyB, often asks about Doe and I, in reference to our training, “How are you girls doing?”

So, it makes sense that I’m one of the girls.

Just don’t make me drink any fruity beer, okay?