On Being Ma'am-ed

This post originally appeared on August 25, 2010 at Tales from a Panama'-Mama 

I have been getting a lot of "yes ma'ams" lately. I am not a fan of the "ma'am" and "sir" business. I know, I live in the south (or Canada) but I don't make my kids say it like most Southerners do. I should be okay with it, and I was until I got ma'am-ed. I suddenly noticed not just young bag boys or my kids' friends doing it. People I thought were close to my age started doing it. Should have been a sign. (Well, I took it as one to re-henna my hair anyway.)

Then, I was counting up fundraising money for the school and saw a name on a check for a fourth grade parent that made me do a double-take. It's a unique name of a student I had when I taught high school Spanish many years ago. Yes, I'm getting a hint now.

A boy in my daughter's class came up to me in the hall and said "Mrs. S, you look just like Miss Smith (not her real name but he meant their math teacher) but she's younger." I think the fact that all the teachers at my kids' school seem to be 20 and gorgeous made me feel a little better.

I was reading a Parenting magazine while at the doctor this week and there was the cutest article on being "formerly hot." It made me laugh out loud. The lady's blog is hilarious and any of you nearing forty crowd (like myself) or forty-something's will relate. She even has a checklist of signs to see if you qualify for being "formerly hot." Too funny.
I am content with my place in life. I think my friends who I've seen grow up and evolve are all just more gorgeous to me. They are more at ease in their own bodies and it shows. "Hottie-mamas" as my hubby says.

The dictionary gives the definition of ma'am as:
a short form of madam, a show of respect, especially of royalty. (Not too shabby.)

And the fact that my awesome guy still gets jealous, thinking that the bag boy that just ma'am-ed me is after my bod, makes me feel so good.
 
 
Michelle is a mom of three wonderful kids. Trying to live the green life. She lived most of her childhood in the Panamá Canal Zone and moved to Arkansas when she married her college sweetheart (18 yrs ago now.) She has 3 public blogs (Tales From a Panama-Mama, The Panama-mama Cooks!, and What's on the Bookshelf?) all visible through her main site www.thepanamamama.com.