St Patrick's Day

I came to a realization today concerning adults. Things that are important to us (taxes, jobs, car maintenance) are not important to children. AND things that are important to children (such as St Patrick's Day) are not important to adults.

I came to this realization at about 7:20am this morning when I walked into the elementary school that I volunteer with on Thursdays and was immediately accosted by children who wanted to know if I was wearing green and if they could pinch me because I wasn't. This morning finding a clean shirt was more prominent in my mind than finding one in any particular color.

I remember thinking on Tuesday that I should remember to wear green. Because these kinds of things are important to elementary students. And then this morning I rolled out of bed, pulled on a striped shirt, and drove to the school. Fortunately for me I pulled the "adults trump holidays" card and so the children did not actually pinch me. I also pulled the "aquamarine blue is green today" card - which the children kind of nodded at.

My question is: how did a holiday centered around a christian missionary become an American holiday that focuses on pinching people and pots of gold that are hidden at the end of rainbows? And why is an Irish story celebrated in America in the first place? And of course leprechauns somehow got tossed into the mix.

(Leprechaun trap: tall ladder. "do not climb")

I suppose though we also celebrate things like pi day. So the answer then is "why wouldn't we celebrate it?"

I think I will create my own holiday and begin celebrating it.

Grocery Store Lines

I am a judgmental person. And because of this I figure that most other people in the universe are judgmental as well. Part of this, in theory, is caused because of my choosing to major in English. English professors are snobs about learning and analyzing things. So naturally I figure I have caught part of the same illness. I like to think that I am more aware of social stigmas and archetypes than most people.Which obviously means I can function on a higher level then those who simply feed into popular expectations. Right?

In my normal daily tasks I will sometimes stop and wonder how people are perceiving me. I think about it when I go to the mall in sweats and a messy pony tail. I think about it when I wear high heels and a semi-formal dress to buy cookies from a store before going to a party. I think about it when I remember that I have never in my life had a pedicure. I think about it when I walk down a city street and remember that in my childhood I used to walk barefoot through weedy hills and milk goats. I think about it when people introduce themselves to me in a new class and they literally know nothing about me.

I can wear a lot of hats: The student. The farm girl. The roommate who locked herself out of the apartment last week. The girl checking out books at the library. The flirtatious girl with a big smile. The girl who sings along to the songs playing in the background at the grocery store. –Because I am comfortable doing things that don't conform with typical social behavior I like to think about myself as unaffected. However I think I may just be too lazy to care what people think. Or, more accurately, too lazy to change even when I know what people think of me.

A favorite exercise of mine is to judge myself when I check out at the grocery store – or, rather, guess how the cashier would judge me. It is like a game. On the days when I buy lettuce and tomatoes and whole wheat bread I win at being healthy and nutritionally minded. In my head the cashier is SO impressed. 

On days when I replenish my chocolate chip supply, buy sugar, and splurge on potato chips… I figure they think I am unhealthy and probably a couch potato. Which means I loose.

Then I start wondering where they would put me in life. Do I look like a college student? A young mother? A working woman? A teenager buying groceries for their mom? Then I want to pick a scenario and play it out. Then I think if I'm good at it I should go into acting. Then I think of myself as a famous actress. Then I remember that I'm in a grocery store staring at tomatoes.