Age

Well, i took my 87 year old grandmother to her friend's birthday party. This friend turned 90(i think). It was an interesting time. I was merely my grandmother's driver. Since my grandmother doesn't drive, i brought her to the party. She hasn't seen her gal friends from church in quite some time because of her not being able to drive. I knew i would soon be left behind once we entered the room of party goers.

So, i mingled. Well, tried to. Thank goodness for coffee. I sipped on coffee, sat at my grandmother's side and just kind of listened. There were quite a few things that have changed and some things that haven't changed in regards to etiquette.

What has changed? Remember when it wasn't polite to ask a lady's age? Remember a lady never TOLD you her correct age. Well honey, age was the badge to wear that day and by-george, it was ACCURATE! I never heard so many, "well i'm 94!" and various other age announcements made in conversations. So, that has changed. They were even asking me how old i was. I don't care one way or another so i told them... 32. I have lived a third of their lifespan.

What hasn't changed is eating. You can't have a birthday party without cake. And of course you can't have a real birthday cake with out HUGE frosting-flowers. I am not a HUGE frosting-flower kind of gal and of course, i get stuck with a piece that has a HUGE frosting-flower on it. Well, in my head it doesn't matter if i get the flower or not, i just won't eat. WRONG!

For one thing, the ladies i sat with ate their cake faster than me! I'm a fast eater... Another thing, their plates were CLEAN. Not a lick of frosting or cake crumb left behind. Then there is me. I'm eating my cake, carefully chopping off the HUGE frosting-flower. I'm done. My grandmother looks over at me and says, "Your not gonna eat your flower?" I replied, "well, uh, it is a lot of frosting." That was the wrong answer.

My grandmother didn't tell me it was the wrong answer but she slid my plate over and whacked off half the flower and ate it. It was at this point were i had taken careful notice of every one's plate at the table...and i ate the flower. For the sake of my grandmother's dignity, i ate the flower.