I have been trying very hard to not hate the money-town in which my children attend school. I mean, just because I'm so very typical doesn't mean that people who are super-typical (Better Than Most) are bad people. I try to remind myself of this a few times a week, and try not to frown at the other moms at school, but I screw it up on occasion.
During my son's fourth grade music program, I sat between two moms whom I immediately judged to be snobs, and had to have a little talk with myself about playing fair. Then, they noticed each other, and one hopped over the aisle to sit by the other and they literally talked through the entire program about how much they only cared about money and status, until someone read me the definition of "literally", and then they talked about Very Important Crap: going to the gym, going to the coffee shop (:::GASP!::: MY coffee shop!!! UGH!), going to lunch, and which corrective surgery to have first. That little list I did not make up.
Anyway, I find myself wondering if I will ever really fit in here, and the answer is no, and the other answer is thank goodness. And the other answer is, guess what? I'm the freakin snob, because I don't want to be their friend at all. I'm a bad bad mommy.
When I was a kid, a new neighborhood went in and it was like a zoo for money. They had a fence all around it to keep all the money in, and a nice golf course so that the money could graze and hit balls, and a little country club so the money could...do whatever you do at those, I guess.
I get to drive by that exact neighborhood twice a day because it's right next door to the kids' school. I'm ok with it. I'm even ok with the fact that I have to slow down in front of it, because the people who live there don't have to obey stop signs and they all bought the insurance against the laws of physics that surround car wrecks. What I am not ok with is their "staff". "Keepers" if you will.
You know how people who have money have a lot of stuff? And then, since they don't really have time for their stuff, they have to spend a bunch of money storing, keeping and updating that stuff? Keepers are the people who maintain the stuff. They tend to drive large vehicles, and guess what? They aren't allowed into the money zoo without passing through the guard at the gate. So every morning as I'm trying to get my kids to school, I have to stop at the money zoo because there is a huge pile of COM VEHs trying to get through the gate so they can mow the lawns, change the oil, clean the gutters, feed the pets, drop off the groceries, nanny the kids, and clean the pools.
And every morning, there is at least one of the people who lives at the zoo who thinks "Hey, I live here and my car doesn't have to follow the rules, so I'm just gonna' turn in and everyone will get out of my way", only there isn't anywhere for anyone to go, so nobody can get out of the way, and the zoo resident's car is blocking both lanes of traffic while he waits for his handlers to get access to the zoo. Poetic justice? Perhaps. Severely annoying to regular people? Absolutely.
So, zoo people, will you please install one of those rude "service entrances" so that your keepers can get in and the rest of us can use the public road that your tax dollars paid for?
