Sorry

On Wednesday nights I often play basketball with some women at the church.  I spend a lot of time apologizing for crashing into people.  Formerly an anti-athelete, I'm not sure whether this is proper protocol. Can they tell that I'm only crashing into them due to clumsiness and not because I'm an aggressive player?  I mean, they foul in the NBA and it's not because they are a bunch of bumbling klutzes.  If they apologize they never show it on TV.  The more experienced players on Wednesday nights apologize less.  Is this due to their being aware of what's appropriate, or because they are not as incompetent?  At the end of one of these evenings two of the women expressed embarrassment and apologized for being sweaty.

What?!

Yes, at the end of full-court four-on-four they thought being sweaty was uncalled for.  This, I know enough about exercise to say, was ridiculous.  At the end of an hour of vigorous exercise, one should be sweating.  There are some things we as women spend far too much time being embarrassed about and apologizing for.  And thus I am compiling a list for myself of things that I will not apologize for.  I think they are reasonable parts of my reality and should not induce embarrassment.  So far I have:

• Sweating while working out.
• Having a home that looks like people live in it.
• Having a body that belongs to a mother rather than one that belongs to a teenage girl.
• Wearing yoga pants all day from time to time.
• Having my hair in a ponytail.
• Having evidence of young children on my clothing.  (Cookie smears do not require a wardrobe change.  I'm doing the laundry here, people.)
• Taking a break during the day, even if this means encouraging a certain small child to watch television for a bit.  
• Allowing my child to wear his pants backward and his shoes on the wrong feet if he feels like it. 
• Allowing my children to pick their own clothing.
• Occasionally serving oatmeal for dinner.  Even when daddy is home.
• Dancing like a dweeb.

OK, I'm still working on suppressing the embarrassment induced by that last one.  But I aspire to dancing like a dweeb and just enjoying it.  I think that's a reasonable goal for my current reality.