BUCKING THE SYSTEM: BACHELORETTE PARTY GIVES WOMEN LATEST WIN IN GENDER RIVALRY WAR

We finally did it.

My girlfriends and I finally beat our significant others in the planning and execution of a recreational event.

Please recognize the importance of our win and congratulate us, because this has been a long time coming.

Don't get me wrong, we've beat them before. As the primary care givers, we're the best at all the important stuff that involves our children (storytelling, belching and other nasty body humor excepted, of course). We also generally win Jeopardy! contests, have the safest driving records, and occasionally win individual rounds of The Dozens.

But when it comes to recreation, the men are almost always victorious. That's because they don't usually worry about insignificant details like who's going to baby-sit and how much money is in the checking account. When it comes to entertaining themselves, their whole focus is on what is best, easiest and the most fun for them.

The women in our circle of friends can't do that. We won't leave our children with the first person that says yes, and we recognize the importance of consistent nap times, matching socks and the food pyramid.

In most cases, we wind up leaving the fun loving to the men and settle for happily married with children.

Until last weekend. That's when seven of us decided to send almost-married Stephanie off to marital bliss with an all-expense paid, party-hearty bachelorette evening in St. Louis.

Our mostly married group planned the day with a diligence we haven't used since our single-and-loving-it days. We spared no expense and rented a limousine so that we could eat, drink and be merry as well as safe.

For myself, Dani, Clorinda, Michelle, Niesy, Stephanie, and Catina, it was to be the party of our dreams.

It didn't go off exactly as scheduled, thanks to a little car trouble at the very beginning of the trip. We eyed each other nervously, and then I made the statement that defined what everyone had already been thinking.

"I don't care if I have to stay in this car all weekend, I Am Not Going Home."

Luckily I didn't have to make that decision. The problem was soon resolved, and before you knew it, we were kicking it in the Louie. We had a great driver, and we were all almost giddy with the thought of leaving our husbands or boyfriends at home with the children for an entire 24-hour period.

Not that that's what happened. In true male form, all of those with children managed to get some free time thanks to gracious grandmothers and other relatives. That's OK, though, because they still got a good helping of being the only adult in the house for a long period of time.

I must say, the limo really put us over the top in turns of partying. Throughout our planning, it was if the men didn't really think the limo was going to happen. As we got closer to the event, they realized we had successfully topped their plans for the groom, and they kept making snide remarks like "If we had done that, you'd fuss about the money."

It's called sour grapes.

They've had their heads together all week long trying to design a similar bachelors-only weekend for soon-to-be-married Reggie. It's obvious that they've failed miserably because they're not running around gleefully describing what their weekend will entail.

And so, even though I won't hear the details of the bachelor's party until Patrick returns home tomorrow, I can proudly and with great certainty say that we finally beat them.

It's good to be the queen.