The cover story in the Living section of today's AJC presents a new television offering for our, ahem, entertainment. Real Housewives visits the purportedly "typical" Atlanta housewife, a species I have met, but do not enjoy. Self-important, narcissistic, over-the-top . . . there simply are not enough words to describe the featured cast.
How about a few REAL housewives?
Mary: career woman, leader in her church, willing to host any gathering in her home at a moment's notice, with her husband of many years raised two children who now have post-collegiate careers in mission and seminary studies.They're just a few of the "real housewives" I have the privilege to know, and each is far more entertaining than anything the television industry can toss into the digital mix.
Val: an extraordinarily creative woman who is fit, stylish, long married, close to her grown children, and still volunteering hours upon hours with the young children in her church.
Carol: caring wife, calm mother of a large brood that includes a grown child with lifelong medical challenges, imaginative preschool director, creative stylist of parties and interiors, and faithful friend.
Janna: runner, nurse, skilled at balancing high-demand career and the diverse needs of her family, volunteer at her children's schools, and on-call friend to her entire neighborhood.
Cathy: one-time child star and soap opera diva, now a seminarian, wife, mother, and friend. You should hear her sing!
Diane and Karen: friends for 25+ years, sharing the joys of mothering beautiful children, faithful marriages, longtime careers, quirks, happiness and deep pain, always there for each other.
Kitty: deeply faithful, taking an "it is what it is" approach to her husband's dementia and her own painful arthritis, yet still offering to knit squares for a prayer blanket because she's determined to contribute.
