The older I get the more accepting I get of quirky.  Perhaps that is because we all tend to get a little quirky as we age.  Of course, I don’t think of myself as quirky, old, odd or anything less than super cool.  Lately, though, I have seen the looks that my girls give me when I do something that they would consider…less than cool.  As typically happens with those of us who haven’t accepted the fact that we are perhaps crossing over into that place, we are completely unaware it’s happening.

Let me give you some examples.  I can’t read anything without my glasses anymore.  I haven’t actually accepted this fact so each time I go to read a menu, a piece of mail or even my phone I struggle.  My girls roll their eyes and laugh because they know it is a fruitless effort and yet I persist in believing that nothing has changed.  This usually results in them taking my phone away from me and reading it aloud because once again I don’t have my glasses with me.  Sometimes, though, I do have my glasses and it takes me a few minutes to actually dig them out of my bag, which also elicits an annoyed response.  I am learning though.  So, recently I had my glasses with me and we were in Home Depot shopping for some paint.  I dug my glasses out of my bag and yes, it took a full 60 seconds.  Once I had them on though I thought I was in the safe zone.  Then I walked out into the sunshine of that beautiful afternoon and I couldn’t find my sunglasses.  They were on my head.  I quickly put my sunglasses on and put my reading glasses back on top of my head.  Yep, not a good look and, yes, I was immediately reprimanded for my inability to stay in the cool zone.

Last week, I was at the dentist with my youngest.  While in the waiting room a woman who was perhaps 10 years older than me fit the description of quirky.  She was in comfortable, albeit mismatched, clothes and she seemed unaware of any cool zone that might exist.  She had already had her dental appointment and yet she continued to sit in the waiting room.  I thought perhaps she was waiting for a ride.  She picked up a magazine only to be shocked that Mary Tyler Moore had passed away.  She asked me, “did you know Mary Tyler Moore?”

“Umm, not personally, but yes, I knew who she was.”

She seemed unfazed.  Then she pulled out her phone and calendar and decided to make an appointment for her adult daughter.  Once that had been accomplished she stood in front of the kids’ play area and watched the cartoon that was playing.  She seemed to talk to herself about the title and then asked the receptionist which movie was playing because she couldn’t quite place it.  She didn’t know the movie and wondered when it had been released. The receptionist was losing patience with this woman’s quirkiness and she sensed it.  She smiled and decided it was time to leave.  She smiled at me, picked up her belongings and walked toward the door.  She looked as if she might have forgotten something and then fished her keys out of her bag and walked out.

Okay, perhaps she was a little more than quirky, but it occurred to me that I may look just like that to my girls.  I took a mental checklist of my recent behavior.

Looks lost occasionally? Check.

Can’t read? Check

Can’t find glasses in bag and as I fish around forever practically sticking my head in said bag?  Check.

Often oblivious to the idea of matching clothes? Check.

Quirky?  Check.