Where are the men?

The last entry was not really the entry I meant to write. But somehow the words just came out and I was on a new topic. No really, what I wanted to write about is men. Yes men. Not male-bashing, not lusting - just in general.

After my awful morning (read previous blog). I decided to get a latte at Starbucks before facing motherhood for the rest of the day (plus I had been to Limited Too shopping for my niece - that's enough to give anyone a headache). I excitedly walked in, ordered a Tall Non-Fat Pumpkin Spice Latte (so excited fall is here - can't wait for the Gingerbread to come back!!)
As I waited I listened to the 2 male barrista's bantering about celebrity death matches (Gilgamesh vs Witchy Poo) and 2 male customers thanking them for the entertainment as they packed up their laptops to go. I wanted to stay. I wanted to abandon motherhood and spend my day discussing celebrity death matches with the barristas and customers. Though I realized it was inappropriate for me to spend all day with strange men - even if they were gay.
But this got me realizing something. Now that I'm a stay at home mom - I am living in a female only world. Other than my dear husband, the only males I have interaction with are the bag "boys" (they're all over 70) at Tom Thumb. How did this happen? I spend my days at playdates, Little Gym, Pre-School, PTA meetings all with other moms. There are no dads that participate in these events. I know that there are stay at home dads- but they don't interact in these groups. And I go out in the evenings - of course I do. Dear Husband often complains that I am a gold member of the "Need to Get Away from my Husband Club". So I go to Mom's Night out, Girls Night Out... all female.

So I realize this today and have spent all day trying to realize what this means. Should I care? What is missing in my life without the friendship and comraderie of men.
First - humor. Mom's are not funny. There is not a lot of laughing and banter going on in these Mom's groups. Why is that? Are we so caught up in Sesame Street and Dora that we forgot about witty banter. In fairness, this is not a female thing. Lots of witty banter goes on at Girls Night - which is not a group of moms but a group of women, some of whom happen to be Moms. But that's just once a month. Or is that all the things worth bantering about happen in the work place?

Second - sports. Women do not discuss sports. Not all women, my friend @franklin5 (Twittername) does Twitter about football, but Thursday at the PTA meeting no one was singing "Are you ready for some football?" as I was doing (okay just in my head). Maybe everyone was doing it but was afraid to sing out loud.

Third - jargon. I don't miss it, but I've realized that all corporate jargon is created by men. It's not surprising that most of the Dilbert characters are men. Maybe this is why there's not so much sarcasm among a group of mom's. It's okay to mock the boss or the finance department, but kind of rude to mock another mother's parenting. Unless - hey maybe they're all mocking my mothering and that's why I don't hear the jokes (see previous post - not mom of year).

I'm sure there are other things missing. After all how is it that a whole segment of society goes about their lives not interacting with 50% of the population (other than their husbands - and I bet some don't even interact with that poor guy)? It's all very odd - but other than going back to Starbucks every Mon, Wed, Fri morning - it'll probably stay that way for awhile....