Stopry of the Day 10/ 11/ 2009

It is mortifying to be a teenager.
Not only is everyone in the entire world staring at you.
Critically.
But , if you are, G-d forbid, with your mother, you know that they are also staring at her, and she is bound to be doing something embarrassing.

Believe me, my children have told me, many times, of how they have suffered through this!

And the things we make our children do…

The young lady sitting behind us at services, on Saturday evening- which was the best holiday of the year- and I say that because it has lots of candy attached to it- was cringing over the very idea that her parents were expecting her to wear a BRIGHT ORANGE REFLECTIVE VEST , so that she didn’t get hit by any cars on the way home.

We live in a residential area that does not have sidewalks, and you have to walk on the not very well delineated side of the street , down unlit streets, where the cars believe they have eternal right of way, and no speed limits.

Being a parent, I vote in favor of those embarrassing orange vests, but this young lady could only see the mortifying side of it. She would much rather have no one notice her and get hit by a car.

In an effort to make light of this indignity, I told her that no matter what , she only gets stared at for short periods of time. The moment anyone in my family starts to have a conversation, we are ensured of being started at for a minimum of 30 minutes. At least, by anyone not familiar with us- so she really had nothing to complain about.
My daughter, Sarah, hates this attendant attention to us because we are using sign language. Off course, I am old, so I long ago stopped giving a hoot.

But this other Sarah’s mother, had a story that topped it.

Many years ago, when they were taking Lamaze classes, in preparation for her birth, her parents would go to the hospital for the classes, and afterwards to the cafeteria for a romantic cup of tea, or whatever.
As you can judge by their fast and fancy life style, we get along quite well . Not to mention that we also force our children to wear bright orange vests.

Now, as we all know, some people are more prone to being started at than others.
People in wheelchairs get stared at.
People over 7’ tall get stared at.
People who are walking down the street with their set of octuplets get stared at.
The Amish get stared at.

Well, here they were sitting in the cafeteria. He with his very blond beard and his Jewish frummie hat, and she in a dress and a sheitel- which is the name of those wigs married Jewish ladies wear.

And a couple of Amish boys walk past- staring at them. And pointing.

Our friends happen to turn around, and the adult Amish are also staring at them…not quite sure what to make of them.
So, they have the distinction of being the people that the Amish point and stare at.

I cannot top that story.