Girls

I have a love/hate relationship with the show Girls. I can't stop watching it. I literally devoured the first two seasons in a weekend and was impatiently waiting for it to start up again after Christmas. But every single time I watch it, I internally cringe at this horrible portrayal of 20-somethings in New York, or anywhere for that matter. The show is totally entertaining. How can you not laugh at the antics of Shoshanna? Or how totally anal Marnie can be? Or how now (spoiler alert) she is now hooking up with Ray? Don't even get me started on Hannah's relationship with Adam. Dysfunctional much?

There is something totally likable about them all though. They are quirky and interesting and have some major issues. But don't we all? But then again, aren't there some of us that actually have it a little more together? I have heard the show called the Sex and the City for the new generation. Beyond the fact that it takes place in New York City and there are four friends in the group, I don't see many similarities. Miranda was a lawyer. Two of the characters on Girls work in a coffee shop and I am not entirely sure Jessa even has a job. Carrie must have been doing something right if she could buy all of those Manolo Blahnik's.

Last night the show irked me big time. It was a great episode for sure. There was a group number choreographed by a group of gay theater actors. There was a weekend trip to the Hamptons, or more correctly, the North Fork. Then there was screaming and yelling and hating of each other for growing up and growing apart and not knowing how to deal with it. Shoshanna lost her mind; her new live life to the fullest attitude turned her into a nasty mean girl. Hannah and Marnie can't seem to get on the same page and cut each other a little slack. All in all they were a mess. But then again, aren't they a mess in every episode?

What really struck me was that I had spent the day surrounded by a group of women who were absolutely nothing like these girls. I only knew one of the girls I was with. The rest were friends of friends or friends of friends of friends. Most of them were teachers. They have good jobs and normal relationships. A few were even engaged. Even though we didn't all know each other, we had a great time together. A dive bar can bring people together without a doubt; cheap beer in a pitcher is a universal friend-maker. But I really enjoyed their company and learning about their lives, their jobs, their loves, their successes. We were a group of normal, functioning adults.

So maybe nothing we did yesterday would make for very good TV. We had a lovely lunch at the Sunny Spot in Venice and walked through the canals. We had beers at a bar called the Whaler and I wore wedges which were not the most appropriate footwear for walking all over place. The thing is, there are a lot of 20-somethings like us. The girls that grew into women who may not have it all together, but mostly we do. And while I love the comedy and the rawness of Girls, I take great pleasure in knowing that my life is nothing like Hannah's, but my closet is getting more and more like Carrie's every day.