What is a drama queen? Or is that Drama Queen? I was talking to a friend whilst her one-year-old was moaning softly in the background. My friend is a very fine mother so when she said, "She's just being a drama queen. I wonder where she got that from," I knew all too well but I protested. My friend has been accused of being a drama queen. I have been accused in my day of being a drama queen. It is not a nice name to be called. It suggests a certain manipulative, air-headed quality.
My friend has handled a thousand very challenging situations with skill and serenity. She can feed fifty with two minutes notice without blinking. She learned to play the piano at fifteen and sat a performance degree at twenty-four. She has two children and one husband.
I cannot claim any of those qualifications, but I do know that I am Irish. I tend to shout then cope. And I shout in order to stop everyone or everything until I have time to cope. Shouting is effective if not done often. I even laugh as I shout, but inside I am not laughing. We do not know what this one-year-old is being a drama queen about. She is on the verge of telling us any day now! In the meantime, I trust my friend to read her moans and know that she is safe. Perhaps my friend and I aren't drama queens. Perhaps we suffer on occasion from terminal earnestness? That is another path to examine.