Women Behaving Badly
Aviva is disgusted by the ladies behavior (and attitude about Reid) in St. Barths.
I find this trip appalling for so many reasons: Women abusing themselves with alcohol and god knows what else. Women behaving like mean teenagers thinking only of themselves and bullying others whenever they get the chance. Watching this episode makes my stomach churn. I would have hoped that women in their 40s and 50s had evolved to a place of kindness, compassion, and decency, having had children and some life experience.
Here is some backstory. I did not want to go on this trip to St. Barths. OK. . .maybe you knew that part. I was petrified of the small plane, blah, blah, blah. I know people who don't have a fear of flying don't get it. . .but it is very real to me. Fortunately, at last minute I was able to get some family members to watch my children and Reid was able to come for the weekend and fly with me. Ramona thinks that this makes me too dependent on Reid, but aren't you supposed to be able to depend on a loved one when you need help with something? It was simple. Reid would fly with me to St. Barths and then go and do his own thing while I spent time with the ladies. (Note: the ladies knew very well that Reid would NOT be spending any time with them. He would rather drink paint.)
Next, Carole insisted that Reid and I stay in the house (we could have just as easily stayed in a hotel). I was so excited to go on the trip and fight my fear of small planes. With Reid at my side, I was still petrified but it felt doable. Not to mention that one of the women I counseled recently lost her limb in a boat accident in St Barths (no doctor or hospital to be found during a horrific accident -- terrible story).
What is most disturbing is, if some of the ladies felt so strongly about Reid not being there, why didn't anyone call me??? Why didn't someone call me and tell me that they felt uncomfortable rather than sitting around and hatching a plan to hurt me? Then at least I would have had the choice to come alone or not come at all. It was as if some of these women were setting me up.
The real issue is what were the ladies so worried about? Wasn't the dynamic of a female trip altered from the start given Russ' presence and random local guys, invited by some of the ladies, coming and going? This was not some trip about women coming together and bonding to discuss intimate female matters.
How could those women possibly be so selfish and mean to debate as to WHO was going to ask my husband to leave this house? These are supposed to be my friends? Talk about being void of manners and graciousness. What happened to welcoming people with warmth and generosity no matter what? What happened to common decency? What happened to compassion? Would you, under any circumstances ask a friend's husband to leave a home or vacation spot? Once he is there? Who does that??? And Reid was invited by Carole, our hostess. . .
Who were Ramona and her sidekick to utter a word at all??? And let's not forget that Ramona KNEW that Reid was coming before I ever left New York and, believe me, he was not interested in being around this group of pent up cougars. We had discussed it! The house was HUGE with separate entrances/exits for each room So what was the problem? Why such insensitivity towards me and my family?
The ganging up on LuAnn to shame and intimidate was terrible. Did you see Ramona berate Carole for having Russ over??? Ramona was concerned that it was HER first night??? This was Carole's trip, and she hadn't seen her boyfriend in months!!! Does Ramona ever stop and think of others? Who behaves this way to a friend? To a hostess??? This looks like spring break for cougars. Not my style and certainly not worth dragging my husband on the plane for.
This trip was trashtastic filled with immature, selfish women. What didn't Ramona and her sidekick want Reid to see? Their selfish, partying, hedonistic behavior? There were guys flying all around this house from all different angles. Obviously some of the ladies did not want my solid marriage interfering with their debauchery.
Hindsight is 20/20, and I succumbed to peer pressure. I should not have gone on this trip. Who would want to be on this trip? Yes the island and house were beautiful, but who would want to be there where peoples' behavior was so gross? The inmates had been let out of the asylum and I was headed to a golden prison.
With regards to last week, thank you for all your love, tears and support for Jake and the children of One Step Ahead. Your comments, contributions, love, and generosity make it all worth it.
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