Appropriatenss

 That is a real word. I just looked it up on my new Kindle

 I  am also going to be an old fogey, as I broach this complicated subject. (It's complicated is, I think, a new movie out this season.) Why not? Everything is complicated.

Before the Kindle, before the movie, I have spent a lot of thought on what's appropriate. What is for me may well not be for you; thus this will be my take on what I think is appropriate for me.  I stand by the rule of the four worst words in the English language: I think you should.

First off, when I wake up in the morning, I begin to wonder if I have to get dressed. At ninety, I should allow myself to be in a robe, ( a nice robe) all day. It would be very comfortable, but inappropriate, because I enjoy having visitors, and spending too much time on Facebook, and reading the Times on line, and eventually the Dispatch before dinner, the morning paper at 5:30 p.m. The morning paper is robe time.

Then on to what to wear. I truly think that blue jeans are for younger every-bodies; they are also pretty comfortable. Thus I wear them, and chino slacks, and blue button-down shirts as if I were thirty years old again. Not wrong, exactly, but my white hair does not do them justice.

My daughter gave me a pair of old warm up pants that are comfortable, and would be reasonably appropriate but for the fact that they are "Heidi Wear", the couture line of the famous Hollywood Madam. The logo is at the waist, on the front of the pants.  We have customized them by taking the elastic out at the bottom and making them look (almost) like gray flannel tailored slacks, and I have some nice, old, long pullovers so I am not advertising her label!

I find I am temperamentally unequipped to be ninety.  My speedometer is out of sync with my age. There is so much I want to do in a day and my body can't get up to the speed of my mental schedule. Do I have to write a blog every few days? Of course not. Nobody cares that much. Do I think I am Paul Krugman or George Will or any other of the really good columnists I know?  But I just cannot sit and relax (read) until I have x'd off my whole list of "To Dos".

And finally, there are times I would like to adopt the initials that stand for words in e mails and on posts. I know the real words, and have used some of them a time or two in my life.  But a woman of this certain age, actually a lady of this certain age, knows it is completely inappropriate for me to omg and wtf and F*%^#K  all over the internet as the only adjective in the world.

Unless, of course, you are an old lady Carmella Soprano.