Today's awkward moment brought to you by - unisex dressing

As I'm headed home today, I'm thinking I have time to get a few errands done before my kids get home, and away I go.

While I'm in the store, nature strikes and so I make my way to the bathroom.  TMI?  Well it's part of the story and that's the only reason why I'm bringing it up.

The bathroom is a single entrance, women to the left, men go to the right.  I turn to the left and stop dead in my tracks.  Standing a few yards in front of me with their back to me is a dude!  Crap!  I look around and don't see any urinals, and I'm pretty sure I went the way the girl sign was, thinking what do I do when there's a dude in the girl's bathroom?  And the guy turns around.  And it isn't a guy.  It's a girl!  And it must have been pretty obvious that I thought she was a he because she kindly tells me, "You're in the right place."

I've been caught and say the only thing that comes to mind, "Sorry."

She starts to walk out, gets by the door, when she turns and with a fair amount of anger in her voice said, "Didn't you see the sign?"

My reply, "I wasn't paying too much attention."

What do you do?  Casually toss out, "Hey - thought you were a dude - my bad."

(Bonus points:  can you guess what store I was in?)

Um, You're Welcome?

"Mom, can I say thank you?"

"Of course.  You always can."

"Well thank you mom."

"For?"

"Teaching me stuff."

"You're welcome."

"I mean, I've gotten away with a lot of stuff this year because of one piece of advice you gave me."

"Really.  What's that?"

"If a teacher comes by and you act like nothings going on, they won't think anything is going on.  I mean, it works most of the time and I've gotten away with so much stuff this year.  Thank you!"

Here's Something for You ...

Okay, so here's a little something.  And I'm sharing this just for your entertainment value, just saying up front.

Here it is, February 2.  Groundhog's Day.  Guess what we have?

Our Christmas tree is still lit up and fully decorated in our living room.  No plans yet for when it's coming down.  It's starting to droop, so it really should be soon.

We're just starting to make jokes about it now.  Like, we're planning ahead for next year.  Or, it's taken root.  (yup, had to go there ha ha)

Nature or Nurture?

With classes done for the day, I'm walking out towards my car and went to grab my keys.  I'll share my thoughts with you, "Hm.  Not in my pocket.  Isn't that where I normally put them?  Better check the other pocket.  Hm.  Not there either.  Drat!  Now I'm going to have to dig through my bag to find them.  That can wait till I get out to the car."  While my mind drifts to other thoughts, I look down and realize my keys are in my hand with my water bottle.

Have I observed enough times my mother looking for her glasses while they're on top of her head that I learned this skill?

Or is it just passed down in my DNA to get things done without realizing it?  (Isn't that a nice way to phrase it?)

Expectations

At our house, we don't buy a lot of ice cream.  When we do, it usually doesn't last very long.  

For New Years, our very good friends drove close to 2,000 miles to come visit us (which was wonderful!!!) and we bought ice cream.

Today after school, my son looks into the freezer and declares,

"Hey!  What happened to the ice cream?  

There use to be 2 things of ice cream here 

and now there's just a bag of corn!"

Perspective

My daughter is doing a play-a-thon for her band at school, which included getting pledges.  Not wanting to bother people, I told her she could only call 3 people.  One of those 3 was her Aunt Connie.

When my sister mailed her a check for $10, she also included a note that read:

Thanks for keeping 

me a part of things that 

are happening in your life.  

Kick butt!!!  

Love, 

Aunt Connie

I've read this letter several times and it still puts a smile on my face and tears in my eyes.  Thanks for caring about my daughter Connie.  And thanks for the example of "what perspective will you take" - and taking the time to talk to her.  It makes me so happy when she knows she's important!

BTW

My friend's story:

I needed to write my daughter's teacher a note, and I did it quickly since her bus was coming.  After she was gone I realized, I wrote that note to the teacher in text format!