Feeling my age

I work with three young women, in their early 20’s. I could most certainly be their mother. I would have been young, but it would not be a stretch. One of them is my assistant, S. I adore S, she is sweet, and extremely competent, pushes herself to do and learn more, and has an incredible work ethic. One of the other women, K, is also fabulous. One of the quickest learners I have ever known. She is sweet, with a soft side, but can run with the big boys. I am proud to know her. The other, J, is new, and I don’t know her well, but she seems to be cut from the same cloth as the other two young women.

Tonight is homecoming, and M has a date with her just-a-friend, who I believe is truly more-than-a-friend-now-that-she-is-in-high-school, J. So we had to find a dress. Not just any dress, not just a nice dress, but a FORMAL dress.

M hates shopping, and does not have a good sense of style. She definitely knows what she likes, but she is like a raccoon: she loves anything shiny, with sequins, or garish. Picture a 14 year old Joan Collins. So her style can’t be trusted, at least for Homecoming. She was attracted to the gold lame and the saucer-sized rhinestone brooches.

So I called on my young friends at work to help me out, and they came to my rescue. Not only did they clue me in to what was in style, but told me the cheap places to shop, and we got a great bargain on a dress, shoes, and jewelry. I believe we got it all for less than $50. And an Oleg Cassini dress, to boot. Very Jacqueline Kennedy-esque.

They helped me out, and were happy to share their expertise. I work very hard to share my knowledge with them at work, and even though it seems silly that they would have been excited to share something as benign as fashion tips with me, I truly feel like they were happy to finally be able to impart some wisdom to me. They are very innovative and savvy at work, but their ideas always need to be checked or validated before they can use them. This time I was lapping up their wisdom like a puppy!

They have told me before that they don’t think of me as old, they at least acted shocked when I told them that I was only a few months away from being 40.

At the moment, I feel 39 and 4 months. And it feels just fine.