I sat in the airport for five lovely hours the other day, and I observed people as they sat in their chairs and passed by. Yes, my daughter would call me a creeper.
What I noticed was how busy the women were. While most of the men sat in front of laptops or on blackberries with little or no interruption, women were juggling phones, laptops, and sometimes children.
One woman was on her laptop e-mailing furiously while on the phone with her college-aged daughter helping her come up with some ideas for a class and taking a beep-in call from her son who was trying to cook rice. Oh yeah, that was me. I was sitting in front of a metal US Airways booth so I must have been creeping myself.
Anyway, here’s the bottom line – women, we amaze me. The battle I am personally proudest of over the last few days, however, was the fact that I put on make-up in a hotel room without a magnifying mirror. You know all those crazy little old ladies you used to make fun of that had lipstick up to their nose and mascara down their cheeks? I am becoming that little old lady.
Now I understand that it’s not that you’re losing a grasp on reality, you are simply losing your eye-sight. You think that eye-liner is right under your eye, then you put on your glasses an hour later while sitting in a meeting and realize it’s about an inch below the lid making you look like Liza Minnelli.
Or you simply forget things you didn’t used to forget. I went on a business trip recently and woke up to realize that I had forgotten my blush. I tried to use my lipstick, but it was a little bright and I ended up looking like a marionette. The good news is I got the business — I think they were afraid to not give it to me.
I’ve decided that I will put on my make-up proudly whether I have a magnifying mirror in the hotel or not. Then I will enter the world with tremendous confidence, knowing that even looking a little crazy holds some power.
So here’s to you, fellow Dames in the airport. To those of you walking in high heels, wincing with every step, to those of you juggling three conversations at once, and to those of you who have lipstick beyond your lips and mascara dotted all over your eye lids. You run the world, so put mascara on your forehead if you so desire. You raise the next generation, so put your lipstick wherever you want to. You keep the financial world rolling by making 80% of the purchasing decisions, so buy high heels and hobble like a maniac.
Here’s to you, Dames. You dominate!