I have come to believe that there are two kinds of Jews: those who are always on time, and those who are never on time. I’m a yekke, a descendent of a long line of German Jews who believe that if you are on time, you’re actually five minutes late.
I spent the early years of parenthood apologizing profusely for the diaper blow-out or spontaneous tantrum that made it seemingly impossible for me to arrive on time as often as I wanted to. My girls are older now, and I’m mostly back to my happy yekke schedule of being at least five minutes early. I may be stressed out from rushing so much, and I may have forgotten their snacks or sweatshirts, but at least I’m on time.
Which is precisely why I am so aware of the mother and daughter who show up 15 minutes late to swim lessons most weeks. The lesson is only 30 minutes long! What are they thinking? Why do they even bother to come? My admittedly judgmental curiosity about them blossomed when I noticed that the mother was wearing sweatpants (you know the kind I’m talking about–those decidedly NOT yoga pant relics from the 80s, the kind made of thick grey fabric with elastic around the ankles and a drawstring at the waistband) with a large hole in the back of the right thigh. I’m no fashion maven myself, but at least I toss my Target yoga pants when they get a hole in them from a protruding nail on the old wooden climbing structure at our local playground.
You can read the rest of this post over at Kveller.com.
