Redefining "Cool".

I'm a busy lady, and most of the time I'm fueled almost entirely by caffiene. So sometimes, when I'm out and about, I'll hit the drive through Starbucks. Yeah, I know, Starbucks is evil, they squeeze out the little guy, their coffee isn't "all that" and they are a corporate nightmare. As much as I hear that, I can counter most of it, and for Christ sake, they have a DRIVE THROUGH for busy moms who's idea of hell is having to take my two kids out of their carseats, juggle coffee and food containers from the counter to the car and then con the kids back into their seats. Yeah, that's me.

Well, I bring this up because recently I've had some strange experiences at the drive through check out. Really. The twentysomething cashiers have on more than one occasion, looked into my car and said "Wow! Cool carseats!" Once, the cashier called another staff member over to show off my "cool carseats." See what I mean, that's just strange.

Let's start with the obvious. Cool carseats is an oxymoron. There is nothing cool about carseats, they are bulky, huge and not at all stylish. Sure mine have animal print covers, but that was really more of a sad attempt to look like I wasn't driving around with two ultra safe kid conveyors in the back of my "I scream mommy so loud you can't miss it" station wagon. Don't get me wrong, I like our carseats. They would keep my kids safe if we ever got into an accident, but they aren't cool. Really, they just aren't.

My second point of confusion is that these young, stylish women full of Seattle coffee culture attitude are even noticing the carseats. And it isn't only when there are kids in the car (yeah, I'll occasionally hit the drive through on my own, I'm that pathetic). They don't look like they have kids, they don't look like they should even take note of my Britax bling. And even stranger, one of the most enthusiatic compliments came from a guy. Maybe I'm sexist, but I think that is even more out of the realm of normal.

The first time I heard "Cool carseats!" I laughed. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't. I felt like an ass. Oh well, I guess new things are in with the younger set.