What would Nancy do?

I see the stickers everywhere, What Would Jesus do? Who would Jesus bomb? & so forth. & the answers are always so obvious (turn the other cheek; he died before the trebuchet even, so I don't think it ever came up), I wonder that they bother.

I want the bumpersticker What would Nancy do? & yes, I do mean Nancy Drew. I remember when I first met Nancy. If I saved enough Cheerios box tops I could apply them to a copy of her latest adventure (The Secret of Mirror Bay if you are curious). We have been tight ever since. & I am not alone. Nancy consistently appears on popular book lists, for young girls made by young girls as well as what many of our most dynamic women leaders were reading when they were young girls. She is also consistently reviled, & mixed reviews are always my favorite.

Nancy always does the right thing, even if it does not seem to make any sense at the time. She is pursuing suspects & realizes the route they are taking conveniently passes a restaurant she has always wanted to try. She stops for lunch (seems counter productive, does it not). Guess who ALSO stopped for lunch.

Nancy is adaptable & practical. She is (now) famous for her strawberry blonde hair, but that was not her original color. A printer's error changed it on the cover of the 4th (I think) book & so she changed it going forward. & backward, too in the reprints.

Closest to my heart, Nancy accessorizes like no one anyone has ever heard of. Besides the right dress, shoes, bag, convertible, friends, dog, etc. she has her own key making machine right there at home (or maybe her friend does; Nancy always knows the right people). & travels with random & yet ultimately just-the-right thing for whatever life presents. I have a pretty big purse & I have a lot of crap in there & every piece of crap is used every day I carry that bag but at least once a day I look into my purse & I know that if Nancy were with me she would would have that magnifying glass/police whistle/coupon for 40% off my next framing order that was the whole reason I left the house. I remembered the picture but forgot the coupon. This never happens to Nancy.

I am a little worried Nancy might be too smart for us, actually. People talk Talk TALK about Barbie raising unrealistic expectations in young girls. Or Snow White. But no one ever points a finger at Nancy. Unrealistic body images are bad, but an achievable lithe, trim figure if you have the right genes & take up tennis/show riding/ski jumping/tap dancing (doubly useful if you know Morse Code) is OKay.

Even more important, you have to be smarter than everyone else, especially the boys & never let on that you are. Or at least wait until you do not need them anymore. Sure I can do it, but is that really fair on the rest of you. Yes I have conveniently forgotten I forgot that coupon. Or ever lost my keys. Nancy has that affect on me: she inspires me to be better than I am by believing I am better than I am.

//A special thanks to Jennifer Worick who wrote Nancy Drew's Guide to Life & my sister who gave it to me several years ago. I still have it in my purse & yes, I consult it every day, almost, along with the collection of Poems by John Donne (very useful for testing your memory in long grocery lines, I know Nancy would approve). I consoled myself with it when I could not find my keys; Nancy could have found my keys.