A: "Mine was good but tiring.   I got up late so I couldn't shower before getting the kids off to school and then I had to leave for my class and I promised myself I would go to the gym after class.  But I didn't.  So all day I've felt so off.  I finally hopped in the shower but I still feel so..."

G: "...dowdy?"

A: "...tired."

I hear Lauren, across the room, suck in air between her teeth.

A: "Um, did you say dowdy?"

G:  Silence.  Looks a little deer-in-the-headlights.

A: "Do you think I look dowdy?  Cause I don't know if I would say dowdy.  I mean, that's like what I would use to describe the Queen Mother [rest her soul]."

Lauren:  "Oh, Dad..."

G: "Didn't you say you felt dowdy?  I could have sworn that's what you said earlier."

A: "Um, no.  I would never say I felt dowdy.  I don't think I've ever said that.  Wow.  I feel kind of bad about the dowdy comment from you!"

Lauren: {laughing}  "oh, this is so great.  You guys are totally funny to listen to."

* * *

I remember my mom telling me about a woman of a certain age that she worked with who had a funny relationship with her husband.  One day this woman, Margene, told her husband, "I saw you downtown today.  I waved at you; didn't you see me?"

"Yeah, I saw you," he said.  "but I was kind of embarrassed.  I was with my friends and you weren't looking very good." 

"Oh, I'll make sure that never happens again," said Margene (I imagine a little coldly, don't you think?).  So Margene went out and bought not just a new outfit but a whole new wardrobe.  To make sure she didn't ever embarrass her husband again.  And he couldn't say a thing.

* * *

Thankfully I have a gem of a husband who would never say he was embarrassed of me.  And I do feel kind of bad for him for his slip-up (although not more than I feel bad for me!) But don't you think that little Freudian slip entitles me to a grand, anti-dowdy shopping trip?  Just wondering.