“Uteruses before duderuses.”
It’s possibly Leslie Knope’s most notable moment of genius. And it’s my new motto. Let me explain why…
My life has been a tornado lately. This isn’t some kind of weird Helen Hunt themed Twister metaphor. I truly mean that it is as if a gale force wind invaded my life, threw every single thing I thought I knew about who I was, who I want to be and the life I live day to day and threw it in the middle of a cyclone. When the storm finally passed, I was holding onto the hands of my best friends looking at the chaos and going: “shit, I have to clean this up?”
Lucky for me, I didn’t have to clean it up alone.
Now this is a weird transition, but I’ve been thinking about Catching Fire a lot lately too. I see a lot of myself in Katniss. I can be stupidly stubborn. Relentlessly tough. I will try to go it alone, even when I don’t have to. Let me say that another way: Katniss is always turning away help. IF YOU TURN AWAY HELP, STOP IT. KNOPE WOULD DISAPPROVE.
When you’re watching everything you know flail around you and crash to the ground, it’s scary. It’s easy to turn inward and push everything and everyone out until the noise and the glass and the chaos ends. But don’t do it. Don’t be Katniss. Take your best friends by the hand and cry. And when weird shit happens, like your sex toys end up on the front lawn, laugh with them too. (I’m not saying my sex toys literally ended up on my front lawn, but believe me, it could have.)
My girlfriends saved me. I told them that over and over and over again this last month. Those uteruses are the best things in my life. If you don’t have that - stop reading this - stop trolling Reddit - stop shopping on Think Geek - stop watching Avengers for the 10th time. GO. Make a date with your lady friends. Start talking on the weekly with your good friends. Tell them your secrets. Open up. In time, you will grow closer. And if you see a storm on their radar, take their hand, plant your feet firmly on the ground and be there for them.
I hope I never have to return this favor to my dear friends some day in the future… but I will be there saying, “What would Leslie Knope do?”