Little Edie

I am currently obsessed with “Little Edie” Beale. She is the younger of the two Edies in “Grey Gardens” the 1976 documentary and the cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. She is a little nutty and naïve, but so interesting. She talks at one point about never knowing what time it is- because she doesn’t own a clock. She and her mother really live in a world all their own. I think for the “Big Edie” the arrangement is great. She knows she won’t ever be lonely and her favorite person in the world is there with her every day. Little Edie had once been the it girl of society and had multiple marriage proposals, but turned them all down because “Mother didn’t approve” of the suitors (which included Joe Kennedy, Jr, and J. Paul Getty). It seems like Little Edie missed out on a lot and she knows this and stays anyway. She is sort of stuck in adolescence even though she was in her mid-fifties when it was shot. While some people seem to think her relationship with her mother is so cool and “what an amazing bond” they have as they can’t seem to be without each other. I have to admit, as a mother of a daughter, it scares me a little.
My daughter and I are very close, but I am very conscious of making sure she gets out into the world on her own sometimes as scary as that can be for her or me. Marlon and I try to really let her have her own experiences without us always in them. She went to camp last year and it was scary and nerve-wracking, but she came back so independent and proud of having gone into a situation where she knew no one and made friends and had experiences all her own. I have times when I feel a little callous because I want her to be independent and hope I am not pushing her too much. I want her to be able fight her own battles, like one she is dealing with right now.
She is having the beginning of “girl drama”. We all remember that, don’t we? Between the ages of about 7 and 17, one day you are best friends with someone and the next, they are ignoring you and hanging out with someone else. Mama Bear mode kicks in- I want to call the parent and let them know- I want to talk to the kid and scold her- I want to do anything that will make my baby stop hurting over this. My girl is very resilient and she will deal with this. As much as I want to step in, I am trying not to. If she can’t learn to handle conflict now, what will she do as she gets older and the conflicts get bigger? I’m trying to counsel her to talk to her friend and to tell her it when she feels like she is being slighted, or just play with other kids and let her come to her - play hard to get, if you will. I hope I’m doing the right thing. As interesting as I find Little Edie, I don’t want to have one of my own in 50 years.
That being said, here is a video of her and her unique style (some of it is pretty fantastic and avant garde).