I had lunch with some friends from college who I hadn't seen in a while and some other people who I guess we could call "acquaintances" from the days when I brushed gortex jacket with those of ruling class (who happened to attend the same gothic towers of the college we all attended). By the end of the lunch I had to seriously wonder if these people think about anything other than real estate and babies, or if those are the unspoken parameters of conversation when a Bush is in office. You would never know that wars were being fought, or that we all went to college and actually learned to think. I think maybe I've spent so long hanging out on the fringes of the "artsy" crowd (a polite eupehmism for educated and poor), that I no longer know how to connect with the ruling class which I was never a part of (but always thought I wanted to be). Not that I ever "connected" the way I do with people who, like me, blurt out their innermost thoughts and feelings as if every interaction is a therapy session (it's gotten a little bit more under control since I hit 30). But it seems like in the old days, when people wanted to chat about...I don't know, the "crazy housing market" or what not, I could nod my head like it was all very serious and earth shattering. But at the lunch I just wanted to say, "Am I supposed to give a crap that you have a bigger backyard for the Mexican nanny to chase after your kids? Is there something wrong with public parks?! What I really want to know is how you treat the Mexican nanny..."

Needless to say, that would have created weirdness galore. I'm just grateful that my children won't grow into overscheduled neurotic zealots who need three educational therapists to take the standardized tests to get into the right kindergarten.

Just for today, I am grateful to not fit in.