Jeri's recent post reminded of a story about my friend Judy.

When Judy was 35 and raising her five children, her in-laws lived across the street. The father-in-law, who drove an ice cream truck for a living, killed himself, so his wife moved in with Judy's family, and Grandma never moved out. Judy's husband was an only child and he thought this was just fine. On some levels it was okay because Grandma helped with the cooking and babysitting, but Judy never got to have her own kitchen or home to herself.

Eventually Judy got a job where she could travel quite a bit, so that was a nice break. One time she was wearing a nice wool suit that Grandma had found at a garage sale, and felt pretty spiffy in it. On the airplane she noticed the flight attendants admiring it. Finally, one of them asked her where she got it, and they laughed when she told them, because come to find out, it was an outdated Continental Airlines uniform. Company policy was that the uniforms had to be turned in at the end of employment or when new ones were issued, but somehow this escaped. Judy was just mortified.