The go-arounds

When I was in rape crisis training, we had a little something called the "go-arounds."

At the beginning and end of each training session, we had to go around the room and, one by one, talk about our feelings. It could be something as simple as, "I thought the article we had to read was really informative because I didn't know that ants had abusive relationships, too" or as complex as, "The whole stalking thing really got to me because I had a dog I kicked out 10 years ago and he keeps looking in my windows." You get the point. So, every time we all hang out, we start with our own go-arounds.

Last night, we had a volunteer meeting where we went around the room and discussed cases. I found out that my domestic violence case went nowhere because the girl blew off the woman from the hospital's social work program. I wonder when that's not going to be so completely heartbreaking. Anyway, it's a strange environment because we're talking about rape and DV and we're cracking jokes and laughing. Alissa had a great story about a DV case where she felt like she really bonded with the girl and said, "I was all ready to say 'I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to have any contact with you after tonight' but no one asked." Ha ha. It's kinda like when I worked in news and we all got really excited when a tornado hit and everyone who wasn't working came in and we had a pizza party and got really rowdy in the newsroom.

After the meeting, most of us went to "our place," Shades of Green. We sat down and started our go-arounds, which consist of very little aside from excruciating detail about our love lives. The very best go-around was Michelle's, even though she was not present. She had dinner with Sharona the night before and prepped her. Anytime you hear the phrase, "And oh my God, I was a porn star that night," you know it's going to be a good story. So Michelle's a porn star, Sharona's in love, Britt had a bad hookup, Alissa met a new boy after ditching the old one, Summer got a kitten, Julia's moving to London and I, well, y'all know how I'm doing, minus the stuff that I don't tell you.

What does it say about us that, aside from the long-term-relationshipper and the married gal, news about our lives consists only of boytalk?