The Goddesses

The Goddesses were "founded" in April 2001 as a result of an innocuous comment made by my friend Rose during our "girls only" trip to PV. Rose, Heidi, Louise and I had rented a two bedroom condo in Puerto Vallarta for 9 days. We were all remarking on how fast our nails and hair were growing and how soft our skin felt. She said, "I feel like a Goddess!" and the idea was formed. She also came up with "The Goddess Convention" as the title for this annual event (we decided after that initial trip that we would try to come to PV once a year). We had so much fun, we hoped to include other women and started spreading the word.

The second convention in 2002 was bigger and included my friend Winnie, her two sisters and her two daughters. Rose and I were also there, along with two new friends, Beatrice and Mary Ann. We held the event at Casa Andrea and invited other women, including Andrea, to join in the fun. And it was a lot of fun! Rose bought cheap, plastic, dimestore tiaras and we wore these around town during Goddess-related events and just for a laugh! Mary Ann brought some boas with her and we drapped them across our shoulders to add a bit of glamour. People started noticing how much fun we were having and started asking questions. I noticed that other women seemed particularly interested ...

In the intervening year, I developed a small website with the help of a Canadian Goddess I met online and wrote a campy "Goddess Handbook". It was mostly tongue in cheek but the main theme that ran through it was that Goddesses were superlative women -- strong, independent, funny, interesting, intelligent and knew how to have a good time. The tiara became our main focal point and I had beautiful Swarovski crystal GODDESS pins handmade for the core group plus a few other women who had attended GCII.

The third convention was smaller and consisted of only Rose, Heidi, Beatrice and Mary Ann. I was already living here so their visit was extra special because I missed them all so much. We had dinner out at a friend's restaurant, wearing our tiaras and boas, and caused quite a commotion, especially among the female patrons. They all wanted to know what they had to do to "join" the group! We felt special; we felt silly; we felt powerful -- heck, we felt like Goddesses! LOL

GCIV is scheduled for the first two weeks of April 2005. At that time, it will have been a year since I've seen Mary Ann but she is constantly in my thoughts. In fact, every time I open my lingerie drawer and see the "boa bra" she bought for me, I giggle! Beatrice was just here for a week but it was a very relaxing trip for her without any of the usual Goddess silliness. I miss her already! And I miss Heidi and Rose every single day I'm here ... we send emails or call and, on some level, that does help minimize how much I miss them. But it's not the same as breathing the same air as them. April 2005 will be a special month for me because I'll have all "my girls" back in the fold.