The M word and Random Thoughts on Swearing

My son missed the bus today, so I had to drive him to school.  I normally walk the dog after I drop the boy off, and I am dressed in dog walking clothes.  These clothes tend to be comfortable and almost sloppy--fleece pants, hiking shoes and the like--not what I would wear to my children's school, if only because they would be embarrassed by my extreme casualness.  The odds of me running into several people I know at school are high, thereby exacerbating my embarrassment at being dressed like I just rolled out of bed.  When I am walking the dog, I have sartorial immunity.  Making sure my dog doesn't pee on my rug is far more important than how I am dressed.  The immunity is gone when I am alone.

As expected, I ran into one of my friends at my son's school.  Let's call this friend Jane.  You've met Jane before.  She was the mom at the coffee shop back in the "Swearing" post who said "We need to kill this mother f---er."  This morning, Jane and I decided to out for coffee, and I apologized for my attire.

"Middle-aged women really shouldn't wear yoga pants outside of yoga class," I said, glancing down at my blue and gray yoga pants.

"Don't say the m-word," Jane replied.

"Wha...?"

"The m-word.  Middle-aged."

I laughed.  The woman who casually drops f-bombs refuses to say middle aged.  At coffee, we were talking about a group she is working with.  "They are mostly older men, whereas I am..." pause  pause pause "...younger."  She was trying to think of another term for the m-word that wasn't the m-word.

Jane was going to meet with this group after coffee, and explained that was why she was dressed up, meaning dressed significantly better the typical mom who is dropping their kids off at school.  I joked that if I had known she was dressing up, I would have worn the new jacket I got the day before from Anthropologie.  I got a great deal from the sales closet.*

"I thought that store was for teenagers,"  Jane said.

"They have the middle-aged stuff in back of the store," I replied, thinking of my new jacket.

"Not the m-word again!" Jane screeched.  I burst out laughing.

Should I or should I not embrace the middle-age?  My daughter starts high school next year, which is a milestone for me just as much as it is for her.  I feel like as she moves definitively from tween to teen, so must I move from "...younger" to middle-aged.  I feel like I've earned it, even if it means I shouldn't wear yoga pants outside of yoga class and I shop at the back on Anthropologie.

* Shopping Secret:  The Anthropologie at U Village has a Sales Closet on the wall behind the cash registers.  I had no idea it was there.  From the outside, the closet looks like a mini-store room for the clerks.  Nope.  Inside, there were a bunch of women digging through the racks.  The previous time I was in the store, very few items were on sale on the main floor.  Now I know why -- they place all of the sales stuff in one spot.

Random Thoughts on Swearing

• My swearing habit has one good effect.  My daughter doesn't swear, probably because she doesn't want to be like me.  She says stuff like "Holy goodness!" which makes her sound like a nun.  The boy is a different story.
• Here is a great video from Harry Potter Puppet Pals called "Wizard Swears."  I love the Elder Swear.