In the Absence of Men . . .

We had a Relief Society Retreat this weekend.
Not just any run-of-the-mill retreat, this was the whole enchilada. It was more like the entire tex-mex buffet.
We started out on Friday night at the Aspen Lodge (which I think is extremely over priced for the size of the facilities, as a side note). For Friday, it was a ward activity and everyone was invited (hence the whole ward activity-ness of the situation). I had spent the majority of the day shopping for food to feed the entire ward (well, actually I was planning dinner for 40. Based on past attendance at ward functions, I was feeling this was a generous estimate). And let me take this opportunity to tell everyone about Allison's Pantry, which is this fantastic place that sells delicious food, grants wishes, and pretty much fulfills dreams. . . all for a reduced price.
My car was packed to the gills when Mallory and I drove up the canyon to set everything up and get dinner going. After getting lost only a handful of times, we arrived and began the monumental task of preparing for the evening (of which I will not give you step by step details . . . this is where you thank me for being so considerate).
I had taken up my Dance Dance Revolution and Kristina's Guitar Hero, along with several board games. There also happened to be a pool table, ping pong table, and foosball tables at the lodge. Needless to say, there were a myriad of activities to choose from.
Dinner was served and it became a case of loaves and fishes. I had purchased exactly 40 bread bowls, and we had 41 people for dinner, but that didn't matter because I didn't need to have a bread bowl, so it was perfect. We did have a little bit of soup left over, but not enough to save. I've never planned a large dinner so perfectly. Ha!
Now, I will take this moment to tell you that I wasn't in a very social mood. I've been feeling a bit sick and sluggish lately, so I spent dinner time making sure everyone was fed, and I spent after dinner time washing dishes (seriously, hundreds of dollars to use the place, and it doesn't even have a dishwasher!)
After clean up was over, I had just enough time to get in a few DDR's and one GH (Dance dance revolution and Guitar Hero respectively) before it was time for the guys to leave. See, the girls were spending the night, but the guys had to leave at around 10, or at least that's when we told them to leave.
The whole point of this blog entry is actually dealing with what happened after the men left. All of a sudden, I felt so much more free. We started out in polite conversation with the Bishop and his wife (our chaperones), but this soon grew tiring and I put on some music, causing a spontaneous dance party for the gals. The interesting thing for me was, not only the feeling of abandon that accompanied our "lacking guys" situation, but the amount of girls that would prefer to watch another group of uncoordinated white girls dance. I thought that was something only guys like to do, but apparently it must be a fun past-time because there were probably half a dozen girls just observing. I hope they learned a little something from my "power shimmy" (which is a move that is only allowed when in the presence of solely females).
We then went outside to watch the stars. What I did really was convince a couple of other relief society sisters to sing camp songs with me (which, they did an excellent job of "Three Chartreuse Buzzards," though I did have to do some convincing that the title was NOT "Three Sharp-toothed Buzzards." Apparently, Jenni Carlquist didn't listen in Biology that day when they discussed how Buzzards have beaks and NOT sharp teeth.)
Then, somehow I was nominated to tell a scary story. Luckily I had one prepared from last year's camping expedition with the 5th graders. The story was pretty good. I know this because whenever the girls started to feel a little creeped out, someone blurted out a sarcastic remark. Now, some people might find that annoying. Not I. I'm fully versed in defense mechanisms (have you read this blog at all?!) I understand the idea of using humor to deflect fear. We also got to see the climbing stylings of Dr. Melissa Clark, Jenni Carlquist, and Julieanne Smith.
We then went back inside, got ready for bed, and I told everyone who their soulmates were based on an extremely scientific process (something akin to MASH for those familiar with that). Moral of the story, I was silly. Very silly. So was everyone else (or at least quite a few of us). I've decided that there is a sense of freedom and abandon when we're not feeling like we have to impress anyone of the opposite gender. Do I wish that guys could see us how we actually are? Sometimes. But then again, sometimes it's nice just to be a girl among girls, saying jokes and laughing at things only we would find amusing.
I enjoy being a girl.