"There Are Worse Things I Could Do"

Every little girl has watched Grease. ( Ok, well maybe not EVERY little girl, but if not, you're living under a rock and you should RUN not walk to your nearest Blockbuster and rent it. You're missin' out!) As a child, my friends and I would dance to the soundtrack of Grease, reenact the scenes and fight over who got to be Sandy.

I was rarely Sandy. And when I was Sandy I wanted to the Sandy at the end. You know, BAD Sandy. Of course, to be honest, all the girls wanted to be BAD Sandy. I always thought Rizzo was more interesting. She was real. She wasn't perfect, didn't pretend to be, and didn't care that people knew it. I always thought Sandy was a goody-goody who couldn't POSSIBLY be that good all the time. I thought she was judgemental, stuck up, and someone I probably wouldn't have been friends with. (I mean she was a cheerleader... UGH!) I mean, no one liked her til she loosened up, put on some hotpants, pretended to smoke and danced around the carnival suggestively. And the worst thing about the whole thing, is she did it to get a guy to like her. GRAVY! How retro is that?? Change everything about yourself so that you can get a guy to like you. Pshhht. Not Rizzo. Rizzo was the way she was, and you could take that or leave it. You liked her for her or you hated her for her. I liked her.

Now, I wasn't quite like Rizzo, but we did have some similarities. Rizzo was a tough broad, or so we thought. She was guarded, never letting anyone seeing her true emotions, probably for fear that someone would use them against her. Deep down, I think... Rizzo was terribly vulnerable. Like her, I am very guarded with my feelings. I won't let you see the tears, the hurt, or much of anything else. Why? I don't know exactly. I have an idea... but I ain't sharin' no details! lol. People think I'm a tough broad. I can handle most situations, and you don't have to worry about me losin' it. That's true. But when the hard stuff is over with and I'm at home... I'm not so tough. People hurt me horribly. I'm just good at hiding that. It comes out in anger... which makes me look even tougher. (I can think of another word for it, but I'll refrain.) Rizzo had a wicked sense of humor. Anybody who knows me, knows I do too. Unless you know me, you don't get it. I can laugh at the unlaughable. Because if you don't laugh, you'll cry. And I'm gonna always try not to cry. Rizzo will tell ya like it is... and girl, so will I. I pull no punches. You always know what I'm really feeling. I always said when God was handing out representatives (the part of yourself that is sweet and nice all the time, in the face of adversity...the part that can do those nice white lies) he forgot to give me one. Um, this is not always a good thing. But, it's a flaw.. and it's me.

Here's how I think things ended up...

Sandy flew off into the clouds with Danny. They had a really great time for a few months, but Danny got tired of all the perfectionism... plus Sandy couldn't curl her hair like that, put on make-up OR smoke. The excitement wore off... AND Sandy was a whiner. Who wants some little perfectionist whining all the time when you're a teenager??? Sandy married someone like Eugene, had some kids and became a stay at home wife. She expected life to be a fairy tale. Dinner at 5pm. Roses delivered from her husband weekly. Kisses and hugs. A little white house, with a picket fence, all smiles and no fights. Of course life is not like that. So Sandy dreams of that day in high school at the carnival, how great it was, how wonderful it felt... repressed, ticked off and thinking she deserves more than Eugene can offer her, she cheats and becomes a wild lady. She never sowed her oats... watch out world here she comes. She's gonna sow em now. And in the process she hurts everybody.

Rizzo on the other hand, was lost for a while. Couldn't get her crap together, and was pretty wild during her college days. She met a man, who loved her for her, and they had a kid. Now both of them, being pretty wild, were scared about marriage and parenthood. There were no false illusions, they were TERRIFIED. They had no idea if they'd make it. Or even HOW they would make it. But, they got thru it together. They make mistakes, as all parents do, they fight, as all couples do... but they have a good life. The hard times make them stronger. This they know, because they know about hard times, and are not disillusioned by them.

Everytime I see Grease with my daughter my thoughts go to why we all want to be Sandy so badly. She clearly had some issues.
And Gravy, so do I... who else puts so much thought into the movie GREASE?????


Wait til you see my synopsis on "Pretty in Pink" LOL!!!