Since When is 27 OLD?!

Yesterday, as I drove the kids home from school, I talked to Lexi about her birthday. I asked her what kind of treats she wanted to pass out to her class to celebrate her birthday.

“I don’t remember; how many kids are in your class, Lexi?”

“There are 26 kids in my class. With my teacher, it’s 27.”

Clay, overhearing the conversation said, “Wow! Your teacher is 27? She’s so OLD! Not as old as Mom, but still OLD!”

I opened the door and booted Clay out onto the street.

“I don’t think 27 is old, Mom.” Lexi said, smiling innocently up at me. Between you and me, I think she just didn’t want to be kicked out of the car like her brother.

“Good answer, Lex,” I replied. “That’s why you get to live with us.”


I had to go downtown for court today. On my way home, I posted on Facebook, There’s a cute guy on the L. What should I do? I’m not really sure why I even wrote that. I mean what with me being so old and all, it’s amazing I even noticed a cute guy. And honestly, I’m too busy and too much a mom to even think about guys. I’m moving in a couple weeks and I’ve got more than enough going on in my life without any guys. And I certainly wasn’t about to hit on some stranger riding the L with me. Still, despite the fact that I’m so old, I guess it was just fun to even notice a cute guy.

I got all sorts of interesting replies in response to my Facebook post. A couple people told me to “accidentally” fall onto his lap. I considered this suggestion, but since the train was nearly empty, I figured it might look a little strange if I got up, walked down the aisle, stood there a minute, and then fell into the guy’s lap.  Chances are I’d crush his internal organs. If I didn’t rupture his spleen, he’d undoubtedly think I had um, issues (which is a nice way of saying he would think I was a freak).

I got answers of kiss him, propose to him, ask him if he wants to buy your house, ask him if you can take his picture for your Facebook fans, and sing him the doopy doopy doo song. In the end, I opted to ignore him because I’m just cool like that. However, after I got off the train, I realized I’d passed up a chance to interact with another person. That’s not like me. Cute guy or not, I like to talk to random people. You never know what you’re going to learn by talking to someone. You never know the kind of effect you might have on someone. Maybe that person you took a minute to talk to is lonely and your conversation is the only human interaction they’ll have all day. 

Feeling a little sad that I hadn’t seized the opportunity to talk to the cute guy or the intriguing old man, carrying a bag half-full of bread, I got off the train and said “hi” to everyone I passed on the way out to my car. By doing that, I met a woman who’d never taken the L and was confused about where to go so I took a few minutes to help her out. Imagine the possibilities when you stop to talk to someone. Or fall into their lap. Or sing them the doopy doopy doo song . . .