No Country for young Women

Does it happen to you too?  Those mornings  when everything seems to start in the wrong way, you wake up late, you poke your eye real hard  while trying to slip your contacts lenses in, you mess up your son's sandwich for school, your kid takes ten (TEN!!) minutes to tie his shoe, you step in a puddle and wet your socks... But the worst part is looking into the mirror and this unknown face looks right back at you aghast. So I took a decision, my beautician center was going to see me real early that morning. It's a fancy place, all decorated in pink, with Marylin and butterfly pictures all over, pink feathers, pink curtains and a big pink sofa.

 But.. I forgot they don't open at 9, but at 9:30. So I sat out there, without a jacket, waiting, my butt freezing on the cold marble seat.
 I hate to be the first customer, the girls need a little time to get everything ready,but they're always so nice and welcoming, they let me right in and made me coffee.  I told them I felt like an old battered  shoe, I needed some pampering, so  started  out with a manicure and chatted away. They are my age, late twenties early thirties, and we always have a lot to chat about. Two of them come from far, one of these girls takes a train and a subway (2 hrs travel) to get to work. But when she worked closer to home, out of Rome, she earned 400 euros a month , working 8 hrs a day for  5 days a week. That's almost slavery!   Another one rides a bus for an hour, but  they both  live on their own, trying to make ends meet with  900 euros divided between 450 euros of rent, plus  food and  paying bills. They are worried to go out for a pizza with girlfriends, or to the movie's to see Clooney' s latest.  Everything costs soo much.  When they go on vacation in the summer ( a week, not much more) they have taken 100 euros a month out of their paycheck to be able to afford it. How can I blame them for saying they wish they found a rich old guy to marry?  How are they ever going to think about settling down and having  a family?  Italian government is getting always worse, and we always hear the news tell us "Italians don't have kids anymore" . How can we afford to? We don't want to have starving kids! Wanna be a mommy? Hope you get your job back once your child is in pre-school, or even worse, hope you don't get "mysteriously" fired once your bosses find out you're pregnant.  Or,  you can work all your life, slow down in your early forties, decide to have a kid and hope you get one by that age. I have nothing against moms in their 40's, I just can't figure out where they find their energy to run after a toddler. I get tired just thinking about it. ....ps... They received a large platter of Choc chips....