Day 27

Day 27 - 21 May

Early this morning, I had to drop my father off at the airport. As we pulled up to the terminal, I noticed a large family was getting out of the shuttle in front of us. The parents got out first, and they both looked pretty normal - dressed sort of casually in blue jeans and short-sleeved shirts. But as the rest of the family started getting out, I began to notice that 4 out the 6 kids had on pajamas. Two of them even had on house slippers. And these were not cute little toddlers in footed pajamas - they were teenagers, or possibly older. The two oldest daughters looked like they were at least 20 (it could have just been the over abundance of make-up, but seriously, they were at least 17 or 18.) And there they were, with both of their parents (who should know better), strolling into the busiest airport in the world in their frigging PJs.

Now, I can pretty well bet you that these liberal parents are probably the same one's bitching about the embarrassment of having to take their shoes off at the security checkpoint or having the TSA invade their privacy by scanning them for weapons, meanwhile their teen aged daughter is traipsing past 10s of 1,000s of businessmen, and wearing a threadbare, see through, spaghetti-strapped night shirt, oversized PJ bottoms barely hanging on to her anorexic hip bones and no bra.

When I worked in Consumer Affairs, we would occasionally get a complaint letter from someone who had their baggage delayed, and they would be upset because they had to hide in their hotel room for 2 days waiting on their bag to be delivered because they had traveled in their PJs and didn't have anything to wear "out in public" while awaiting their bag. Like wearing the PJs while passing through several airports and on an airplane was somehow not "out in public."

I will admit that growing up as the daughter of an airline employee back in the days when you had to wear pantyhose and dresses when traveling on a pass, I now have a certain phobia about dressing inappropriately and being denied boarding. Heck, even though the dress-code became more relaxed a few years ago, I still make sure that I am dressed in a way that shows the appropriate amount of respect for my company. But even if I weren't an employee, I still wouldn't show up at the airport, or at any public place, dressed like I just crawled out of bed.

I realize that the world has become a much more casual place. People wear jeans to church and sneakers to the prom, and I'm fine with that. Sometimes we all need to be a little more laid back and relaxed. Still, everything has its limits, and there is a time and place for everything. So while I'll run across the driveway in my PJs to watch American Idol with my friends next door when a storm knocks out my power, I will never ever wear them to the airport, or the mall, or even the Waffle House (all places that I have seen people in their PJs.) Also, for the record, I still dress up for job interviews, weddings and funerals. It is just about respect - for others and for myself.

So today, I am grateful that my mother turned me around at the door those few times I tried to leave the house dressed like a fool. While I was probably not happy about it at the time, I am the better for it now.