So's Your Face

When you're with family, you have your own inside jokes, stories and words. It makes sense to you, but to an outsider, well outsiders look at you funny. When I first met Allison's family, there was a lot of this.

I'm Catholic, she's Jewish. Bring on the Yiddish. Until I met Allison the only Yiddish I knew was "schlemiel", which I learned from Independence Day. Strange, I grew up in NY, but I only knew one Yiddish word. That all changed at the first Jewish holiday. I learned a bunch of words and I tossed them around. I wore "chatchke" out like nobody's business. Allison will tell you she was "chatchke'ed out." I think when I used the word three times in one sentence utilizing each definition of the word was what did it.

More recently I'm saying "Oy Gavelt" It's like "Holy cow" or "Good grief."  It's fun to say. Usually I give a little giggle, and the reason why I said "Oy Gavelt" doesn't seem that bad.

This evening at dinner Ellen, my mother-in-law, came up with a true gem. It wasn't Yiddish, I'm not sure that it was English either. I had never heard it before but somehow I knew exactly what she was saying. She said to Allison "I think you're having this baby tonight. Look at you, Your face is all over your face!"

LOL - WHAT? Your face is all over your face? That makes no sense, but we all knew exactly what she meant and now, it'll be an inside joke for life. I expect it to show up every holiday, birthday or family dinner.

Let me translate to those of you who don't quite get it. The day Allison had Ben she had been out shopping with her mother all day. When I got home from work I asked if she felt ok and said her face looked funny. It just looked different. She was already pretty swollen. She just looked different. That night, she went into labor and had Ben. Today her face looked....different, but not like that. It was a different, different.

Today Allison's cheek bones, lips and eyes looked puffy. So when Ellen said "Your face is all over your face!" I knew exactly what she meant and her description is as good as anyone elses.

It also reminded me of a funny thing we used to say as kids. "Oh yeah, So's your face"