Next year I am definitely crimping my hair (and maybe not on Halloween)

My friend Nicole often lists one of her interests as "putting myself in awkward situations." I respect that (for more on why awkward is good - something my husband says I should know plenty about, judging by my junior high school photos - see my previous post). In the interest of following Nicole's example, I decided to wear my Halloween costume to work today. So I put on a football jersey from my husband's office wall (remind me to address the brave new world of decorating with a BOY in the house later), painted black lines on my cheeks and borrowed a Steeler's hat.

We're allowed, but it's not super common to dress up at work. I guess it's been a while since I was in an appropriately awkward situation because I had forgotten how refreshing and dang FUNNY it can be to watch people try to figure out what to do with you. Also, I should mention that there are a large number of employees from non-Halloween celebrating countries in the office. I'm pretty sure no one prepped them for the American oddity that is Halloween. Anyway, some of the reactions to my costume were as follows:

1. Awkward glance in my direction. Quick glance at the floor. Awkward glance #2 in my direction. Studied examination of the floor tile while quickening pace significantly.
2. Our department's administrative assistant (dressed as a pirate) noticed another employee start to come toward us and then veer away. She asked if he needed anything. He said, "Uh, no," and then scurried (that's really the best word I can think of to describe it) in the opposite direction.
3. "Go Steelers!"
4. More awkward stares - I love these because you can tell the starer can't decide if they should comment on your getup or just pretend it's normal for a 5'5" girl to wear an XL sized NFL football jersey to work (seriously, I was swimming laps in it on my lunch break).
5. "You should wear some Ben-Gay." I was totally lost on this one. I have no idea if that was a blanket sports reference or if Troy Polamalu endorses it. Either way, I don't think Ben-Gay is really something you wear, is it?

OK, so maybe I dressed up because last night I realized that this was about to be the first Halloween since birth that I didn't get all costumed up, and that was just one step farther from childhood than I cared to be. It was a valuable experience in awkwardness nonetheless.